The Apollonian and the Dionysian are two principles that get a lot of attention when cultural philosophers attempt to explain life energies, but a third, equally important, facet of the dynamics of experience is the Saturnian.

Associated with sadness, moroseness, introspection, and death energies, the Saturnian expression is both dark and deep, but it also has a redemptive, positive range of colors in its emotional spectrum. Here saxophonist Ware, usually heard on tenor, has chosen three different horns through which to express the energies in question: from high to low pitched, the saxello, the stritch and the tenor. As Ware writes in his notes, "There's a voice inside each saxophone, expressing different orders of Being." These he explored before an audience on October 15, 2009 at the Abrons Arts Center in NYC, captured on this disc for all to hear.

The personal, real-life element is an important one in musical expression and the trigger events behind the music offered at this concert, judging from the brief liner notes, are the death of people close to Ware. The full mention deserves noting for its significant wording: "I celebrate within the passing, out of this world, of my Father David Ware to the subtle astral planes, where he can rest for awhile before taking on another physical body. I celebrate within the passing of Bibi Ware out of this tormented world into a world of light and pureness. May your soul prepare to enter a perfected human body."

These sentiments are expressed through the keening music that persists in exquisite lamenting in three movements, all titled for satellites of Saturn discovered in the last decade �Methone, Pallene, Anthe. The first movement, in which he plays the soprano-like saxello, has a questioning, volatile quality; the second, on the mid-range stritch, explores more earthy tones; while the third, on tenor, is widely expressive, from the lower depths of the horn, up into the stratosphere of the altissimo register. All are used to convey a musical message that is profound and heartfelt.