I think that Stockhausen wanted us to hear what music really was, not simply what it had become. You must learn to listen to Stockhausen, which really means simply that you must learn to listen. Stockhausen's sensibilities were very close to sensibilities of the monkey chanters, the throat singers, the gamelan players, and the many other "primitives" whose music is really experiential.

It is difficult to overestimate the impact of his work--he redefined the palate, he reinvented the tools, and he gave composers and listeners a new way of looking at themselves.