Apart from a large orchestra, Kraanerg, composed in 1968/69, requires audio feeds of recorded parts played by the orchestra and of the results of the manipulation of electro-acoustical phenomena. “I do not work with basic building blocks. I start afresh every time,“ Xenakis once said. This statement may help explain the extremely independent sonic universe created afresh in his compositions again and again. In the same vein, he rejects any attempt to foist semantic patterns onto the music of Kraanerg: “Music is not a language. It is not its task to convey some meaningful content by the use of sounds. Music is self-standing. It does not gesture beyond itself.” But Kraanerg shows again that this radical rejection of the extra-musical content of music is untenable in view of Xenakis’s energetic and monumental compositions. Already its boisterous and explosive opening, and the first minutes following it, inevitably evoke vivid images and strong sentiments in the listener – perhaps it is due to its lack of semantic affectations that this music directly affects its listener in its relentless drive forward: Truly great music.