A very big "thank you" to Steve for his superb critique, to which little
can be added.  Although Steve does not mention it, I would alert readers
to avoid at all costs the Oedipus Rex on MusicMasters 67078-2, with a
truly horrible narration by Paul Newman.  IMO the Columbia LP recording
(with incredible narration by Cocteau) eclipses all the others.

The original Capitol LP (P8125) of the Genesis Suite (with LA orchestra
conducted by Werner Janssen) contains an interesting note about Babel
by IS on the rear cover:

"For those who are not very familiar with my compositions, my name only
by the reputation of my earlier works such as the Firebird, Petrouchka,
or the Rite of Spring, my Babel - a Cantata for Chorus and Orchestra and
a Narrator - will present itself probably as a casual, an isolated work
which has little to do with my previous compositions, with my factual
features a s a composer.  This feature presents itself in an entirely
different aspect to those who know my musical mind and my symphonic work,
especially such as the Symphony of Psalms, the Melodrama Persephone, or
the Opera-Oratorio Oedipus-Rex, to mention only those capital compositions
of my catalogue, compositions never played in Los Angeles.  Yet the
acquaintance with but these compositions could easily explain my bent
toward musical forms cultivated by the best musical brains of all
times.  Therefore the approaching performance of my Cantata, among other
compositions of the Bible collected by Mr.  Nathaniel Shilkret, by the
brilliant company of the Werner Janssen Symphony seems to me most opportune
and I welcome it." -Igor Stravinsky, Hollywood, California, November 5,
1945.

-Gene