George Crumb's Makrokosmos, Volume II (1973)—subtitled 12 Fantasy Pieces after the Zodiac—is a sequel to Makrokosmos, Volume I, and was composed in 1972. Like its predecessor, it is a work for solo piano in which the pianist is asked to play his or her instrument in a fashion that would likely have left Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms completely speechless. The instrument must be amplified so that the incredibly wide dynamic range (ffff to pppp) can be better felt by audience members far back from the stage; then, taking up where John Cage left off, the piano must be "prepared" beforehand by the insertion of foreign objects—a strip of paper, glass tumblers, etc.—into the string area to produce carefully calculated sonic effects. When it comes time to actually play the piano, the pianist must, in addition to employing ordinary keyboard techniques, stick his or her hands into the guts of the piano and pluck strings, knock on the soundboard, and so on. He or she must also, in vintage Crumb fashion, use his or her voice—"singing" certain mystic words, making rhythmic breath sounds, and at one point whistling. Naturally, the range of sounds produced during a performance of Makrokosmos II is stunning; this, combined with the sheer spectacle of one performer doing so many different things in one piece, have made the work one of Crumb's most famous.

The 12 pieces in Makrokosmos all have both proper names and zodialogical subtitles; they are laid out in three groups, or parts, of four pieces each. Part One contains: 1. "Morning Music" (Genesis II), which corresponds to Cancer; 2. "The Mystic Chord" [Sagittarius]; 3. "Rain-Death Variations" [Pisces]; and 4. "Twin Suns" (Doppelgänger aus der Ewigkeit) [Gemini]. Part Two is: 5. "Ghost Nocturne: for the Druids of Stonehenge" (Night-Spell II) [Virgo]; 6. "Gargoyles" [Taurus]; 7. "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Cadenza Apocalittica) [Scorpio]; and 8. "A Prophecy of Nostradamus" [Aries]. Part 3 contains: 9. "Cosmic Wind" [Libra]; 10. "Voices from 'Corona Borealis'" [Aquarius]; 11. "Litany of the Galactic Bells" [Leo]; and, finally, 12. "Agnus Dei" [Capricorn].

The player or listener familiar with Crumb's Four Nocturnes for violin and piano will find the visual layout of the score of Makrokosmos II, and its multi-textured, semi-percussive sounds, very familiar. Three of the pieces (Nos. 4, 8, and 12—the final piece in each part) do, however, look completely differently than the others; in them, the music is printed in circles and spirals—Crumb calls these movements "symbols." Makrokosmos II lasts a little over 30 minutes in performance and is dedicated to pianist Robert Miller, who premiered it on November 12, 1974.

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