[1] Rihm's compositions were published by Universal Edition.
[3] Rihm was extremely prolific, and much of his music has yet to be commercially recorded.
His works include thirteen string quartets, the opera Die Eroberung von Mexico (1987–1991, based on texts by Antonin Artaud), over twenty song cycles, the oratorio Deus Passus (1999–2000, commissioned by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart), Jagden und Formen for chamber orchestra (1995–2001),[4] more than thirty concertos, and a series of interrelated orchestral works bearing the general title Vers une symphonie fleuve ("Towards a river symphony").
In 2002, he wrote Sphäre nach Studie (a new version of Nachstudie) for harp, two double basses, piano, and percussion, as well as Sphäre um Sphäre (a new version of Sphere) for two pianos and chamber ensemble.
[6] He also experimented with writing musical fragments, for example in his Alexanderlieder (1975–1976, described as a "fragmentary song accompaniment"), cuts and dissolves for orchestra (1976–1977), Bagatelles (1977–1978), Lenz-Fragmente (1980), or more recently Fetzen (Scraps) for string quartet and accordion (1999–2004)[7] Source:[2]