Richard S. GinellAfter John Adams turned 50, one of his biggest developing influences turned out to be a fellow New England native, the iconoclasticCharles Ives. 　　Ives' mystical bent, best-known from his enigmatic mini-masterpiece "The Unanswered Question' turned up in Adams' 　　Naive & Sentimental Music(1999) -- and when he was asked to compose a piece for theNew York Philharmonicas a memorial for the appalling events of September 11, 2001, Adams once again turned toIvesfor inspiration. Hence On the Transmigration of Souls -- a disturbing, at times eloquent, mystery laden collage for orchestra, chorus, and tape that owes its soul toIves' meditation upon an earlier historical tragedy, the sinking of the Lusitania, in the third movement of his Orchestral Set No. 2. The Adams piece opens with the taped low-level roar of New York City, distant sirens, and the names of the dead and missing in the World Trade Center as a chorus gently enters and an orchestral undercurrent evokes "The Unanswered Question." The full resources of the orchestra are permitted to erupt only in a brief spurt of anguish in the center and extended agitation near the end of the piece; otherwise the volume is quiet -- and all the more disturbing for it. The chorus is eventually asked to sing descriptions of the missing taken from the New York Times' "Portraits of Grief" series, as transformed into Adams' peculiar, stylized, conversational choral style. This turned out to be the first recording for the then-newly established team ofLorin Maazeland theNew York Philharmonic-- a brave statement of enterprise -- and the 25-minute work was released all by itself in what amounted to an overpriced ($13.99) CD-single. It's hard to see this becoming a repertory piece, given its complex combination of resources, the very specific time and place it was meant to commemorate, and the painful emotions that the event generated. But do hear this work if you can; its atmospheric afterglow will stay with you for hours.