The recordings, due to be released in 2006, are the ASO's first for the German label, a subsidiary of Universal. The CDs will include Last Round, a tribute to tango master Astor Piazzolla; the vocal cantata Oceana, based on a poem by Pablo Neruda; Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, with Dawn Upshaw; and the 2003 opera Ainadamar, which will also feature Upshaw.

The ASO is performing much of the same repertoire over the next two years. Last Round and Oceana were performed and recorded last month; Ainadamar will get a semi-staged performance in November 2005. The ASO will also perform Golijov's most successful work, La Pasion segun San Marcos, in February 2006.

"The arc of this project brings a larger scale to our work with living composers," said ASO music director Robert Spano. "I'm very excited that we have this chance to not only perform Osvaldo's work, but also to record it."

Spano conducted the world premiere of Ainadamar at Tanglewood last year, and the U.S. premere of La Pasion in 2001. The conductor, Golijov told the Atlanta Journal-Consitution, is "the best exponent of my music‹I feel almost a telepathic link with him when he conducts my work."