Jiří Stivín - Zvěrokruh / Zodiac (Supraphon 1977)

From orginal LP sleevenote:

On this latest record, Jiří Stivín presents his musical ideas in a way completely different from entirely spontaneous character of his previous LP's. The usual pulsation of the rhythm section with bass and drums are absent here, while - for instance - the ostinato figures of the vocal chorus and the classical string quartet are the prime bearers of metro-rhythmic texture. In both cases, Stivín is assisted by leading ensembles from the realm of classical music: the Kühn Mixed Chorus and the Talich Quartet, the latter boasting fresh laurels of the Grand Prix of Charles Cross for its recording of Dvořák's string quartets for French Calliope company. Actually, since the dissolution of the Stivín & Dašek System Tandem, Stivín has been increasingly presenting himself to the public as a performer of baroque and contemporary concert music. Many of the stimuli he has thus absorbed have - transformed in an original manner - found their way into music of Zodiac, a striking contrast to prevailingly kaleidoscopic character of the standard way of playing jazz. Here one should seek the origin of Stivín's striving for a more coherent design of the album's musical canvas in the form of two four-movement cycles and a long final composition as a summing up.

JiŘí STiVíN & GABRiEL JONÁŠ, KÜNNŮV SMÍŠENÝ SBOR, TALICHOVO KVARTETO - Zvěrokruh

01 Živly / Elements
    1 Oheň / Fire 5:01
    2 Voda / Water 4:13
    3 Vzduch / Air 7:05
    4 Země / Earth 4:50

02 Nálady / Moods
    1 Flegmatici / Phlegmatics 4:34
    2 Sangvinici / Sanguinics 1:40
    3 Melancholici / Melancholics 3:55
    4 Cholerici / Cholerics 2:41

03 Zvěrokruh / Zodiac 8:29

Jiří Stivín - flute, alto flute, recorders, whistles, alto & baritone saxes, panpipes, bottles, electric bass, marimba, drums, percussion, voice
Gabriel Jonáš - piano, electric piano, harpsichord

Kühn Mixed Choir, Pavel Kühn - chorus master
Talich String Quartet (in Moods and Zodiac)

Recoded October 1976 and mixed January 1977 at Mozarteum Studio, Prague
Produced by Antonín Matzner

Supraphon 1977, Artia 1979, CD Bonton Music 1997 (OOP)