Why buy Stockhausen LPs?
Stockhausen vinyl is quite collectable. Serious collectors appreciate its rarity, since some pressings numbered only a few thousand copies. The cover artwork is often comparable with the iconic rock album covers of the 1960s and 1970s. Stockhausen also has held a strong cross-over appeal within several musical genres (e.g world music, jazz, rock, classical) so his recordings have been desirable by a wide range of listeners. Browsing through the Contemporary, Electronic or Avant Garde shelves in a second-hand record shop will often reveal the higher prices asked for Stockhausen LPs. The musical reasons for listening to the LPs are also compelling. While many recordings have now been transferred to CD (and can be obtained through mail-order) other wonderful performances seem unlikely to reappear. Even where a beautifully remastered CD exists, the lesser dynamic range of the LP format can be more than made up for by the brilliance of the experimental stereo mixing, which rewards and aston
