Sounds of New Music is a collection of 18 compositions from the 1920s to the mid-1950s representing attempts at a new means of musical expression. Some use familiar instruments in new ways, while others experiment with new instruments; the formats of the compositions range from structured musical scores written for orchestra to electronically altered music using tape-recording devices. Composers include Edgard Varese, Henry Cowell, and John Cage, whose Dance is played on a transformed Steinway piano that gives the music an almost primitive quality. Liner notes describing the new music feature a substantial article on Concrete Music.