Sonic Theme

Sometimes a work of art comes unintentionally from a place from deep within the soul. It meanders and flops onto a table and sits and waits for its birth. The album begins with "Wait Till The Stars Burn", a planetary ode to the Sun. The second track "Tribute to the Pharoahs Den", is a requiem for Danny Ray Thompson (R.I.P.) of the Sun Ra Arkestra, his music and legacy now floating above us in the infinity of space. Both tracks and featuring Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott (of the Sun Ra Arkestra).

This recording, comprised of two complete Art Ensemble of Chicago albums – Les Stances a Sophie with singer Fontella Bass from 1970 and People in Sorrow from 1969 – offers two very different sides of the group's sound from this key period in their development. Recorded in France and released on the Nessa label in the United States, the two discs show how much in command the AEC were of their strengths even at that early date, though for the record it should be noted that with the exception of Don Moye and Lester Bowie, the trio of Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors had been playing together since 1965. Living in self-imposed exile in France, the band explored the complete historical continuum of jazz and moved the free jazz boundary further to the left.

Sergiu Celibidache’s relationship with the M?nchner Philharmoniker lasted from 1979 until the Romanian-born conductor’s death in 1996. Believing in unusually lengthy, detailed rehearsals and in achieving a state of transcendence in the concert hall, Celibidache moulded the Bavarian orchestra into an ensemble to rival the Berliner Philharmoniker, which he had conducted more than 400 times in the years following World War II. This 49-CD set, which reflects (though not exclusively) Celibidache’s particular dedication to Austro-German repertoire, includes seven of Bruckner’s symphonies in interpretations of characteristic expansiveness and spirituality.