Gordon Getty...[is] a fine composer who speaks a very tonal language. This collection of orchestral works shows that, while vocal music is Getty's specialty, he obviously has no trouble working with instruments.

The 12-minute Overture to Plump Jack (Shakespeare's nickname for Falstaff) is a collection of loosely connected themes and episodes, some contemplative, others dramatic, all easy on the ears. Ancestor Suite (2009) is a ballet score written for the Russian National Orchestra. The 12-movement, 36-minute work is about Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, where the living (Poe and friends) meet the immortal members of the Usher family at a ball. Much of the time, you'd swear you are hearing 19th century ballet music, but the interesting twists and turns are contemporary.

'Tiefer und Tiefer' (Deeper and Deeper, 1991) is a haunting little waltz. Homework Suite is an orchestrated version of a piano piece Getty wrote in 1964; its five little movements are character-pieces with solo lines for oboe, piccolo, violin, English horn, and harp. 'The Fiddler of Ballykeel' and 'Raise the Colors' salute Getty's Irish roots.

If you want new music that sounds old yet fresh, this is for you.