Given the austere nature of the slipcase, you might think ‘Wergo 1962-2002’ is designed as an epitaph rather than a celebration of one of the most committed promoters of contemporary music. Yet this ‘Special Edition’ contains a representative quartet of releases (one per decade), highlighting some of the most significant developments and composers to have emerged during the period.

The Ligeti disc features a miscellany which Josef Häusler’s booklet note tries gamely to shape into a coherent sequence. With its striking interplay of polyrhythms, tunings and folk inflections, the Horn Trio (1982) is the touchstone for the composer’s subsequent development; this account, recorded soon after the première, sounds a little inhibited compared to that in Sony’s portion of the Ligeti Edition. Similarly, the Ballista/Canino rendering of Three Pieces for Two Pianos (1976) lacks the deadpan humour of the Kontarskys, now part of an excellent Ligeti overview on DG Echo 20/21. Elisabeth Chojnacka’s effervescent approach to the harpsichord pieces, however, has lost none of its allure.

Prolific and perplexing, Wolfgang Rihm often seems intent on adapting the past century rather than evolving genuinely creative thought. The works featured on this most recent of the four discs link in with his conception of music as aural painting and sculpture. A reciprocal offering to the artist Kurt Kocherscheidt, Piano Piece No 6 (1978) is an intriguing study in the continuity that results from juxtaposing dynamic densities. Of the remaining works – all from 1992-93 – Dritte Musik, with its febrile energy and menacing obbligato tom-tom, maintains its intensity without (as can happen with Rihm) fragmenting into a sequence of rhetorical gestures. Excellent performances, though the composer’s note might have related his musings on art a little more closely to the works featured.

The oldest recording here, Stockhausen’s Kontakte (1960) has lost none of its potency – the complex layering of electronics with piano and percussion given focus through the immediacy of its ascent through the timbral spectrum. With a brief but informative note, this pioneering performance sounds well in its 1992 CD transfer, though the very obvious division into two parts – recreating the side break on the original vinyl disc – should have been avoided. A pity, too, that Frederic Rzewski’s visceral account of Piano Piece X could not have been included – not least to ‘up’ the playing time.

Which leaves Cage’s Roaratorio (1979), an hour-long exploration of the aural images evoked during a reading of Finnegans Wake, realised in an ambient collage on 16-track tape, together with seasoned Irish folk musicians and the composer’s chance-determined reading through the novel in his inimitable speech-song. The result is a painstakingly-organised melée which bombards the senses as surely as it fires the imagination. Cage enthusiasts will want the impressive two-disc set on Mode (10/94), featuring the complete ‘Second Writing’ and an extensively annotated booklet, but the present disc is an ideal way into one of the most subtle and absorbing electro-acoustic pieces yet created.

Each disc has a discreet anniversary logo; otherwise, packaging reflects the low-key yet excellent production values consistent over Wergo’s 40-year history. At its super-budget price, anyone curious to sample something of the richness and diversity of ‘new music’ should not hesitate.