*2022 Stock. Includes a 32-page booklet in German and English.* This first volume of the Complete Edition highlights voice-driven student works and two chamber works. Kreuzspiel (Crossplay) is probably Stockhausen's first "key work". Although these works were composed in the early 1950s, these premier recordings are comprised of performances from the 1970s. Listening to the first works being issued in the large-scale the Stockhausen Edition series, one might expect some give-aways as to a possible notion of the trials of a disciple, since Stockhausen at the time of composition of the opening works on this CD no 1 was a mere 21 years old. That is, however, not the case. These are already artistically mature works, which might show that the inner core of the existence of a human being – the innermost core of the characteristics of a spirit - already is shaped and set at the outset of life, and that the most important thing we can do as life progresses is to be as much ourselves as possible, shaping our life in accordance with the original core that is always there, refining our conduct in relation to that spiritual core, not being bewildered by exterior impulses of all kinds, that may lead astray, and usually, for most of us, really do lead astray, to where we feel lost in civilization. - Sonoloco.com