"Poem 1. Ad Astra" is the first recording in a new series led by Alexander Shelley, Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, who invited Canadian composers to respond to masterworks by German composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Kelly Marie Murphy's work is a response to "Don Juan" and Kevin Lau's work responds to "Death and Transfiguration." As a musical dialogue between present and past, this series fascinates through its originality, yet also through its timeless character.