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