Nonesuch releases Louis Andriessen’s “grotesque stagework” Theatre of the World—recorded live during the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2016 world premiere performances with conductor Reinbert de Leeuw and director Pierre Audi—on September 29, 2017. The nine-scene multi-media work, which was commissioned by the Philharmonic with generous support from the Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund, features a libretto by Helmut Krausser. Theatre of the World is a far-ranging exploration of the German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher (1601–1680). Kircher, the author of thirty books, “made a determined effort to summarize all of contemporary knowledge, and link it to Christian theology,” according to John Henken’s program note. Theatre of the World is Andriessen’s eighth Nonesuch recording.