Klaus Schulze was the godfather of the Berlin School and one of electronic music’s most important and prolific pioneers. A founding member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, he spent five decades building vast, hypnotic, sequencer-driven soundscapes that shaped ambient, new age, techno and trance. These are long-form pieces, not pop songs — most run twenty minutes or more. Here is our fellow fan’s ranking of his finest.

The short version

If you only hear a few, make them “Bayreuth Return”, “Floating”, “Velvet Voyage” and “Crystal Lake” — his thirty-minute Wagner-inspired sequencer masterpiece, the endlessly rising cosmic centrepiece of his most beloved album, and the two side-long journeys that made Mirage a dark-ambient landmark. The full ranking is below.

The godfather of the Berlin School

Klaus Schulze was electronic music’s great cosmic voyager. Born in Berlin in 1947, he began as a drummer — playing on the first albums by Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel — before launching one of the most prolific solo careers in music: dozens of albums of long-form, hypnotic, sequencer-driven “space music.” Building his pieces from Moog and EMS synthesizers, Mellotron, organ and pulsing analogue sequencers, he let them unfold slowly across entire LP sides, drawing the listener into a trance. His 1970s run — Timewind, Moondawn, Mirage, X — helped define the Berlin School and influenced everything from ambient and new age to techno and trance. These fifteen pieces are the best.

How we ranked them

This is one fan’s order, weighing atmosphere, innovation, those hypnotic sequences and lasting influence. The facts are accurate; the order is a starting point for the debate.

The essential six

At the very top sits “Bayreuth Return” (1975), the thirty-minute, Wagner-inspired sequencer masterpiece many call his greatest work. With it: “Floating” (1976), the endlessly rising cosmic centrepiece driven by Harald Grosskopf’s live drums; “Velvet Voyage” (1977), a dense, immersive piece that became a blueprint for dark ambient; “Crystal Lake” (1977), its minimal, ominous, pulsing counterpart; “Ebene” (1972), the proto-ambient debut piece built from organ and filtered orchestra; and “Wahnfried 1883” (1975), a second Wagner tribute of slow-unfolding grandeur.

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Reliably great

The next tier is essential too. “Mindphaser” (1976) rises from ambient birdsong to orbit-bound synth waves; “Ways of Changes” (1974) folds twelve-string guitar and bongos into shimmering cosmic radiation; “Friedrich Nietzsche” (1978) powers along on drums and Mellotron choir, opening his sprawling double album of “musical biographies”; “Dune” (1979) is the cinematic, cello-laced title piece inspired by Frank Herbert; and “Shadows of Ignorance” (1979) closes that record with dramatic, spoken-word grandeur.

Deeper cuts

For the dedicated, these reward repeat listens. “Voices of Syn” (1974) pairs ambient electronics with an operatic baritone; “Synphära” (1973) opens the otherworldly suite of his first synthesizer album; “Blanche” (1977) is a highlight of his film-soundtrack work; and “Ludwig II. von Bayern” (1978) is a near-half-hour, string-drenched epic of majestic ambition.

Every piece at a glance

All fifteen pieces, in chronological order — each linked to the album it comes from, so you can hear it in context.

Where to start

Begin with Moondawn, home to “Floating”, and Timewind, with “Bayreuth Return” — his two most acclaimed works — then the dark-ambient Mirage and the sprawling double album X. The proto-ambient debut Irrlicht and the sci-fi Dune reward deeper exploration, and his catalogue runs to dozens more albums beyond these.

The man behind the machines

Klaus Schulze was a one-man cosmos. Born in Berlin in 1947 to a ballet dancer and a writer, he began as a rock drummer, playing on the debut albums of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before going solo in 1972. Across five decades he built his music from an ever-growing arsenal of synthesizers, sequencers, organ and Mellotron, working almost entirely alone — though drummer Harald Grosskopf added live pulse to several of his classic albums. Klaus Schulze died in 2022, leaving behind one of the largest and most influential catalogues in electronic music.

Why he still matters

Klaus Schulze proved that electronic music could be as vast and immersive as any progressive rock epic. A pioneer of the Berlin School alongside kindred cosmic travellers like Cluster and Popol Vuh, he became known as the godfather of trance for the way his pulsing sequencers anticipated techno and ambient by decades. His influence runs from new age to modern electronica, and his 1970s masterpieces still sound like transmissions from deep space.

Go deeper

Keep exploring: rank his records with our guide to the best Klaus Schulze albums, find an entry point with where to start with Klaus Schulze, or dig into the underrated Klaus Schulze albums. You can also place him in the bigger picture with the best progressive rock songs of all time.

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