Among the 24 albums that comprise the original release of Deutsche Grammophons Avant-Garde series, issued between 1968 and 1971, the Scratch Orchestras performance of Paragraph 2 & 7 of the English composer Cornelius Cardews 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 Cardews 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.

Mastered & cut from the original analogue inch 2-track master tapes by Rainer Maillard and Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios.

Limited and numbered edition, featuring original artwork and a newly designed, beautifully crafted collectors sleeve with new liner notes by Bradford Bailey, and pressed on 180g vinyl.