Four-disc box set presentation is an anthology of Pierre Boulez's early compositions; complex, radically new and quite ferociously uncompromising. Such fearless, notoriously demanding works as the second 'Piano Sonata' may be heard alongside the gorgeous ultra-modernist exoticism of 'Le Marteau sans ma�tre' and 'Pli selon pli'. These breathtakingly ambitious works are complemented by the first recordings of Boulez as conductor, made at the Domaine musical, a society he formed in Paris during the mid- '50s to provide a platform both for modernist pieces by the likes of Webern, Messiaen and Stockhausen and works which had played a vital role in the evolution of music by such composers as Debussy and Bartok.

Three CD collection focussing on the spiritual explorations of the two greatest melodic creators on the planet. John Coltrane played tenor on Miles Davis' monumental 'Kind of Blue', an album that was a template for the style of modal improvisation to which he would devote himself in the fertile early 60s. A period which would culminate in his career masterpiece 'A Love Supreme'. The modal approach freed Coltrane to improvise with limitless invention on a sensual carpet of sound and bore immediate (if highly controversial) fruit with 'My Favorite Things', his expansive meditation on the popular song from 'The Sound of Music'. But success in itself did not satisfy Coltrane. He had encountered the music of Ravi Shankar and became entranced by it's serenity; a quality he longed to find in his own work. Eventually the two men met and liked each other enormously. Ravi saw much of himself in Coltrane; he admired that the saxophonist had overcome heroin addition, become a vegetarian, taken to reading Ramakrishna, and had committed himself to a rigorous regime of practice and study. They discussed Indian classical music and the possibility of recording an album together but their plans came to nothing as Coltrane tragically succumbed to liver cancer shortly before they were due to meet again.

3CD collection, enlarging on the inspiration for The Beatles' post-live experimentation. Providing examples which will cast light on the genesis of such imperishable pop masterpieces as 'Yesterday', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'Penny Lane', 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'A Day In The Life'.

4CD box set of the radical later music of Igor Stravinsky. In 1944 Stravinsky met 20-year old music student Robert Craft, forging a deep friendship and creative partnership that would prove to be decisive in determining the composer's musical direction. With his career at an impasse, Craft encouraged Stravinsky to re- evaluate the possibilities of 12-tone writing; introducing him to works by Schoenberg and Webern and to a generation of young composers with which he was scarcely familiar.