Among the most notable achievements of Sterne's time at the label were the release of George Crumb's "Ancient Voices of Children", inspired by the poems of Federico García Lorca, which sold more than 70,000 units; the recording of new works by Elliott Carter, including his first and second string quartets; and the commissioning and release of Charles Wuorinen's "Time's Encomium", which became the first electronic work to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1970. Under Sterne, Nonesuch helped spark a ragtime revival in the United States with the release of a series of Scott Joplin piano rags performed by Joshua Rifkin. Sterne also launched the groundbreaking Explorer Series, building the foundation for the field of world music.