These are just my initial and very much uninformed reactions/impressions to the piece. I'm sure some other list members will want to refute or expound upon my comments. I was surprised and not so surprised by the music contained within. All the movements bear the undeniable mark of Zorn, but there is freshness about the music. The vocals are particularly appealing; not too dissimilar from the vocals on Aporias, but more complicated and fitting with the music. There are still the characteristic aspects of any Zorn chamber piece--the stabbing strings, dissonant piano runs, abrupt juxtapositions of disparate dynamics/tempos/moods, dissonances, etc--but there are also new textures added that make this exciting. Among these are long dissonant or tense chords, ambient percussion, and a general haunting mood. These textures have been present in his less chamber oriented pieces like Elegy, Duras, and IAO, but haven't been applied to a more "traditional" setting as here. There is very good interplay amongst the instruments especially when playing in the full ensemble; Zorn uses combinations for the different passages, textures, and motifs. As always, his use of percussion is inspired played masterfully by William Winant. Stephen Drury proves, as usual, up to the challenge of the piece and performs well. While there is nothing revelatory, this is still an exciting piece. May even be a favorite. Stephen Drury was left out of the liner notes. I was perplexed by hearing a piano, organ, and celesta on some of the movements with out seeing a keyboardist listed. He is in the credits on the website, though. Zach