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Sounds of New Music / Various on CD

Sounds of New Music is a collection of 18 compositions from the 1920s to the mid-1950s representing attempts at a new means of musical expression. Some use familiar instruments in new ways, while others experiment with new instruments; the formats of the compositions range from structured musical scores written for orchestra to electronically altered music using tape-recording devices. Composers include Edgard Varese, Henry Cowell, and John Cage, whose Dance is played on a transformed Steinway piano that gives the music an almost primitive quality. Liner notes describing the new music feature a substantial article on Concrete Music.