Cornelius Cardew: The Great Learning

Released: 28th August 2026. Among the 24 albums that comprise the original release of Deutsche Grammophon's Avant-Garde series, issued between 1968 and 1971, the Scratch Orchestra's performance of 'Paragraph 2 & 7' of the English composer Cornelius Cardew's 'The Great Learning' remains among the most beloved and enduringly complex. In 1958, following the completion of his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Cardew moved to Cologne, acting as an assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Studio for Electronic Music at Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). John Tilbury has said that with both the Scratch Orchestra and 'The Great Learning' Cardew's aims were 'to transcend the most fundamental precepts of Western Art and in particular that of the artist as aristocrat. The Scratch Orchestra was an expression of the universality of Art; Art as a way of life.' Recorded in 1971, this release of 'The Great Learning' remains the primary means for sonic encounter with the Scratch Orchestra, and the most important contribution to its enduring legacy.