This disc with a total playtime of 59 minutes is a recording of composer Marc Blitzstein's "Airborne Symphony" (1943-44) performed by The New York Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, The RCA Victor Chorale under the direction of Robert Shaw, featuring tenor Charles Holland, and baritone Walter Scheff. From the booklet: "As befits the practice of a composer whose music is utterly theatrical, Blitzstein shaped "The Airborne" out of his own experience, of days and weeks hanging around the barracks, briefing rooms, and airfields. The first movement traces the story of man's many failed attempts to fly and ends with a salute to the Wright brothers The second movement shows that flight, like any technology, has a potential for evil and destructive use. Most chillingly evoked, in the section "Ballad of the Cities", are seven urban centers heavily damaged by fascist aerial bombardment, starting with Guernica in the Spanish Civil War, each representing a different country or continent that had been invaded. The Monitor ends the movement by intoning, without music, "Morning Poem". The final section celebrates in words and music, with humorous and sometimes appropriately vulgar colloquialism, the arrival of the Americans; a competition to prepare for a bombing run that is canceled; and finally, a powerful climactic attack. The close of the symphony celebrates victory, but with a dark warning that enemies will always be at hand."