One of the more unique Stockhausen albums of the 70s – solo clarinet work, played by Suzanne Stephens – who is in pretty wild stage costumes on both the front and back covers! LP, Vinyl record album

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Two mindblowing large ensemble performances from Stockhausen – Inori, which has a soloist performing gestures with the orchestra – and Formel, a much older piece that includes vibes, harp, celeste, and woodwinds! LP, Vinyl record album

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A great double-length set from Stockhausen, and a wonderful mix of acoustic and electric elements – featuring a whole host of cool electronic sources, augmented by trumpet, soprano, bass, and bass clarinet. This album's one of his classics for DG – and the record's a masterpiece that provides a perfect introduction to his groundshaking music! LP, Vinyl record album

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An incredible juxtaposition of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Ludwig Von Beethoven – not interwoven, as in Stockhausen's famous Kurzwellen Mit Beethoven – but offered up side by side, and played beautifully by pianist Pi Hsien Chen! The CD begins with four "Klavierstuck" pieces by Stockhausen, all relatively short, but extremly bold in the way they mix movement with silence – an approach that is then offset by beautiful sounds from Beethoven's "Piano Sonata Op 101" – in four longish movements with a very lyrical feel, but sometimes the same sort of striking elements as Stockhausen's work. "Klavierstuck 5" follows – a longer variation, with very moody, elegiac passages – then followed by the longer Beethoven "Piano Sonata Op 111", before the CD concludes with the 20 minute "Klavierstuck 6". CD

A really great idea for a collection – one that brings together postwar modern music in all of its many formats – from avant jazz, to early electronics, to Indian music, 20th Century classical, and even a bit of straighter jazz moments too! The package is very ear-opening – as it offers the chance to hear instrumentalists next to compositional talents that had inspired them – and the collection provides a way to hear different strains of sonic experimentation that were sometimes running parallel to each other, sometimes criss-crossing in strange ways. There's a wealth of musical discoveries throughout – and the 4CD set is overflowing with key cuts from Ornette Coleman, Bela Bartok, Edgard Varese, Daphne Oram, Jean Sibelius, Eric Dolphy, Ravi Shankar, Pierre Henry, John Cate, John Coltrane, Humphrey Searle, Arnold Schoenberg, Bill Evans, Olivier Messiaen, Luigi Nono, Charles Ives, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna, Julian Bream, and many others. CD

A really great collection of work that sets the scene for the London Underground of the 60s – that heady cultural scene that was about to burst forth and shower the world with a huge range of new music that would influence listeners for decades to come! This package isn't that music – in that most of the artists here are American, mixed with contributions from a few key Brit talents too – and the whole thing works together to showcase the sorts of sounds that were a bit inspiration on the generation that would then inspire many others to come – a mad mix of modern jazz, electronic music, avant classical, groovy vocal, and even some compelling beat/poetry recordings too – all packaged together in an overstuffed 3CD set that makes for a hell of a journey in music! Artists include Ornette Coleman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Mingus, Daphne Oram, Modern Jazz Quartet, Aldous Huxley, Cecil Taylor, John Cage, Eric Dolphy, Annie Ross, Sun Ra, Gyorgy Ligeti, Allen Ginsberg, Jimmy Smith, Luciano Berio, John Coltrane, Chico Hamilton, Alexis Korner, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Albert Ayler, Joe Harriott, and many others. (Jazz, Out Sound) CD