This set offers a special performance of Haydn's "Seven Last Words." One disc of this set features the string quartet version (performed by the Vermeer Quartet) interspersed with commentary by various speakers on the appropriate biblical phrases Haydn incorporated into this work. Jason Robards narrates an introduction to this project. To accomodate these spoken portions of the text, the Vermeer Quartet omits all the musical repeats. Martin Luther King, Billy Graham, Martin Marty, Raymond Bwon, Kelly Clem, Dallin Oaks, Virgil Elizondo, and T.L. Barrett provide the commentary. The second disc contains an additional recording of the string quartet version alone. However, this is a different performance from the first disc, as this time the Vermeer Quartet incorporates all the repeats. This set was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award.
