George Crumb

One of the most original sonic imaginations of the 20th century, Crumb extended the vocabulary of the piano to include harmonics, strumming and plucking the strings directly, bowing the strings with a double bass bow, and applying various objects to the strings. His Makrokosmos (four volumes, 1972-79) — twenty-four pieces for amplified piano inspired by Debussy's Preludes and organized by the signs of the zodiac — is one of the most significant extended works in the contemporary piano repertoire.