The CD also contains two pieces in the composer'

The CD also contains two pieces in the composer's "Vision Series." The intent of these pieces is to create a harmonious meeting point for Indian and non-Indian people, symbolized by the combination of the musical instruments from both cultures in the composition.

Vision I is for a twelve piece chamber orchestra, conducted by Judith Sainte Croix and features the Native American flute. Following the lead of the flute, the listener experiences a journey through various soundscapes evoked by the orchestral instruments. Andrew Bolotowsky performs flute and Native American flute. Also in the orchestra are Steven Carter, clarinet; Johnny Reinhard, bassoon; Jill Van Nostrand, French horn; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet; Bill Hayes, percussion; Lawrence Wolf, piano; Gregor Kitzis, Michael Levin, violins; Christine Ims, viola; Tomas Ulrich, cello; Mark Helias, contrabass.

Vision II, commissioned and premiered by HELIOSPHERE, Matt Sullivan, oboe, oboe d'amore, Native American flute and drum; Roxanne Bergman, violin; Sam Kephart, viola; Tomas Ulrich, cello is dedicated to the Cherokee People who walked the Trail of Tears, one of the Indian Removals. To American Indians the word removal is synonymous with holocaust.

The Trail of Tears, which occurred in 1838 was, in the words of John Burnett (a soldier assigned to the forced march), "an execution of the most brutal order and...the covetousness on the part of the white race was the cause of all the Cherokees had to suffer."

In this terrible American tragedy, in which greed was equally matched with racism, Cherokee People were removed forcibly at bayonet point from their homes in the southeastern United States and sent on a death march for six months in the winter. Half of them died on the way--but half of them made it to their destination in Oklahoma. Demonstrating the tremendous energy, courage and determination of these people to survive, the musicians say (Gah-noh-dah), "I am alive" in Cherokee, at one place in the piece.

Depicting Cherokee history poetically, the piece unfolds in three sections. The beginning represents a point before the arrival of the Europeans, then moves into the crisis of contact with Europeans, and finally, in the third section is resolved with the rebirth and renewal of the Cherokee Nation in the West.