New York City composer Stanley Grill has been publishing his music since 1975. His two passions are medieval music and world peace. Musically, the orchestral works sound much alike, lyrical but without rhythmic or color diversity.

The Four Elements (2009) is a viola concerto in traditional harmonic syntax, the style similar to those of Vaughan Williams and William Walton. “Earth” is lyrical, sweetly repetitive. “Air” employs the high strings of Camerata Philadelphia to create a transparent cocoon around the viola. “Water” is more robust, in the manner of a modal folk song. “Fire” is another muscular movement, with deep chords from the Camerata low strings.

Pavanne (for a world without war) is a string serenade meant as a 2005 prayer for peace, a dedication to the spirit of non-violence. A cross between lullaby and nocturne, the music moves into a middle section of darker color. A third section adds some tripping motives, then intensifies to a coda that drifts away.

In Praise of Reason, in two movements, with cello and two horns to accompany the Camerata strings, is another serenade, rather melancholy, given the 2012 presidential elections, which depressed Grill. The middle of the opening Allegro, Moderato imitates a serenade with cello obligato. A kind of hunt motif infiltrates the second movement, Allegro, once more with cello obligato. The four beats vaguely hint at the “fate” motif in Beethoven’s 5th.

There are 7 Mystical Songs, music that sets four poems by Fernando Rielo (1923-2004), preceded by an Introduction. Peggy Pei-ju Yu provides the soprano part, sung in Spanish. The poems share the aerial world of wind, branches, birds, and wings. Three Intermezzos separate the songs, in which Yu’s voice shares the vocal line with the viola.