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Halvor Haug (b. 1952) studied with Einar Englund, Erik Bergman and Robert Simpson, and the influences of these composers are certainly audible in the music here, as is - apparently - the angst-ridden music of Allan Pettersson. Still, the voice is a personal one, for the most part tonal and darkly expressive. I gave a firm recommendation to an earlier recording of his First Symphony and Sinfonietta, but although the music here is interesting and well worth hearing, I honestly think that those earlier works are superior. In fact, `Silence for Strings' is a duplicate, and is still in my mind the best work on the disc, an enchanting and atmospheric piece of subtle shifts in darkly serene moods and textures - but I do think that the older performance with the London Symphony Orchestra under Per Dreier is the better one compared to the Norrköping Sympony Orchestra under Ruud. Dreier and the LSO just brings out that little extra ounce of depth and urgency.
The third symphony, subtitled `The Inscrutable Life' doesn't quite manage to transcend the silliness of the subtitle. It is more variegated and ambitious than the first symphony, but ultimately less compelling as well. It is cast in a single movement of two parts, based on a four-note musical cell. The opening is indeed impressive, but from there it seems to wander off rather aimlessly, and the use of a taped nightingale in the second section strikes me as rather tacky.
Insignia isn't a bad work, but not a very memorable one either. My experience might indeed have been slightly offset by the (again) very pretentious and gimmicky subtitle `symphonic vision'. The string orchestral Song of the Pines is very impressive, however, with its harrowing combination of grief and ire.
The playing of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under Ole Kristian Ruud is generally very good, but at times one suspects that it might be just a little too laid-back - a little more intensity and depth would presumably have benefited this music; this is especially obvious, as already mentioned, in the case of `Silence' where a comparative performance is after all available. Sound quality is good, however, and this is overall a very worthwhile release, but I urge anyone interested to start with the first symphony.
