Haitink has long been a renowned interpreter of Bruckner, and the Concertgebouw with which he has long been associated, and who can also lay claim to a rich Bruckner tradition dating back to Mengelberg, are in possession of arguably the ideal 'Bruckner sound'. This cycle was one of Haitink's first major projects with the Concertgebouw, and in many ways it shares a common approach with the Bruckner of Van Beinum.

Marvin Gaye began his career in the late 1950s, singing with various R&B vocal groups. Soon he moved on to work as a session drummer and vocalist at Motown. Gaye's own '60s albums are marked by propulsive, high-energy R&B, and duets with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell. In the '70s, he crafted a unique, highly personal vision of R&B, incorporating socio-political issues, atmospheric arrangements, and unified album themes. His early, violent death robbed the world of a true genius.

Blue delights: IF (BLUE) THEN (BLUE) - for the first time, Heinz Sauer has recorded with Joachim Kühn. Together with Michael Wollny, they have created an exciting homage to Kind Of Blue.

Seasons End was the first album recorded by Marillion after the split with Fish in late 1988. The band started to audition singers while writing the new album, and they eventually chose Steve Hogarth. The music for Seasons End was mostly finished by the time Hogarth joined Marillion, and only a couple of songs on it actually have some pieces written by him, most notably "Easter" and "The Space". A number of the lyrics were written by John Helmer, who the band had commissioned before Hogarth joining. He would continue to contribute lyrics throughout the 1990s. Much of the music on Seasons End had been composed while Fish was still in the band. The bonus disc of the 1999 re-issue of Clutching at Straws contains a number of nascent versions of songs that would end up on Seasons End with vocals and lyrics by Fish, these demos having been produced during the writing sessions for the ill-fated fifth studio album with Fish. (A number of the lyrical concepts from these demos, such as The Voice In the Crowd, would later resurface on Fish's debut studio album, Vigil In a Wilderness of Mirrors.) The album was produced jointly by Marillion and Nick Davis (who would go on to work with Genesis and associated acts).