John Adam's Harmonium and Rachmaninov's The Bells

Harmonium, by the American composer John Adams, was the composer's first commissioned work during his tenure as Composer-in-Residence to the San Francisco Symphony from 1979 to 1985. The piece is a set to the texts of three poems, one by John Donne (Negative Love) and two by Emily Dickinson (Because I Could Not Stop For Love and Wild Nights).

Rachmaninoff's choral symphony, The Bells, is based on a Russian version of Edgar Allan Poe's poem by that title. The Russian version, written by symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont, is slightly shorter than Poe's original, and ends in a somewhat more peaceful, sentimental fashion.

Tracklisting:
Adams, John: Harmonium
Robert Shaw
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

1. I. Negative Love

2. II. Because I Could Not Stop for Death

3. III. Wild Nights

Rachmaninov, Sergei: The Bells, Op. 35
Renée Fleming (Soprano); Karl Dent (Tenor); Victor Ledbetter (Baritone)
Robert Shaw / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

4. I. Allegro

5. II. Lento

6. III. Presto

7. IV. Lento lugubre