This album brings together two major orchestral works by Nuno Côrte-Real, a Portuguese composer whose music moves freely between imagination and reflection. At its heart is Sinfonia 2022, Op. 70, a powerful meditation on war and the fragility of civilisation inspired by the invasion of Ukraine; through vivid orchestral colours, grotesque marches and passages of profound stillness — including references to Fernando Pessoa's final words — it traces a journey from conflict to suspended contemplation. It is paired with the Banksters Suite, Op. 75, drawn from the composer's opera Banksters, whose six contrasting movements transform themes of financial power, corruption and redemption into a compelling narrative without words. Though rooted in different subjects, both works confront the presence of evil in contemporary society, yet never yield to despair. For Côrte-Real, music becomes an act of resistance and an invitation to listen more deeply — to the world and to ourselves.