Louis Andriessen: De Staat (Reinbert de Leeuw, Schönberg Ensemble, Nonesuch 1991)

Dutch composer Louis Andriessen dismantled conventional symphonic civility by setting Plato's Republic for loud wind instruments, electric guitars, pianos and female voices. Under Reinbert de Leeuw, De Staat hits like a wall of sound: relentless hocketing rhythms and brutal brass unisons repeat with uncompromising force to challenge totalitarian authority.