Can kingpin Irmin Schmidt reveals the first and last records he bought, and one he couldn’t do without
FIRST
![](http://electronicsound.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Schubert.jpg)
Schubert
‘Symphony No 8 In B Minor, D 759 (Unfinished)’
(RCA Victor REd Seal, 1961)
“When I was young I sold my electronic toy railway set and bought a record player. I had some money left over from to buy two records, and they were my first: Schubert’s ‘Symphony No. 8’, the ‘Unfinished Symphony’, and ‘La Sacre Du Printemps’ by Stravinsky. The Schubert symphony was just my most favourite piece of music at the time, and I still love it very much.”
LAST
![](http://electronicsound.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Henry-Cowell.jpg)
The Louisville Orchestra
‘Henry Cowell – Ongaku / Symphony No 11 / Thesis’
(First Edition, 2001)
“I don’t buy records anymore, and I rarely listen to rock or pop. One of the last albums I bought was The Louisville Orchestra playing the works of Henry Cowell. The first piece, ‘Ongaku’, refers to an ancient Japanese music that I studied and Cowell used elements of this ancient Japanese court music in the piece.”
ALWAYS
![](http://electronicsound.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Stravinsky.jpg)
Stravinsky
‘La Sacre Du Printemps’
(Columbia Masterworks, 1958)
“My ‘Always’ record is also one of my first. When I first heard ‘La Sacre Du Printemps’ on the radio I didn’t understand it. It was mysterious to me and I wanted to understand it. I bought it and learned it nearly by heart. It’s one of the great masterpieces and, for me, it’s one of the most important pieces of music of the 20th century.”