RIP Stockhausen

[user_5103]

Rats beyond the red

[SuperlativeHors]

Sad news indeed. 79 is fairly young these days...

Don't you mean either 'Song of the Youths' or 'Contacts'? Or maybe you could play 'Cross-play', 'Counter-Points', 'Groups', or 'Anthems'.

What's wrong with using German titles? It sounds alot better.

[Alastair]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/arts/ ... sen-1.html" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't you mean either 'Song of the Youths' or 'Contacts'? Or maybe you could play 'Cross-play', 'Counter-Points', 'Groups', or 'Anthems'.

-mm

Blimey.

"create[s] an image of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego staying alive in Nebuchadnezzar?s fiery furnace"

See, that's how I should have announced it.

[J.F.]

For the 70s, one thing I'd heartily recommend is "Tierkreis" - but definitely the original version for musical boxes which is so much more charming than those later instrumental arrangements.

Another Tierkreis-related favorite of mine, although that's already a little unearthed-in-Stockhausen's-particular-way, is "Sirius". Yes, "Sirius". Putting the theatralics aside (easy when listening to the CD), this is one of Karlheinzes more humorous attempts, and offers an amazingly rich polyphony created by 4 players + synthesized tape (although the latter's sounds are quite... 70s).
Yes - I actually think it's a funny piece, probably even more so with the absurd costumes and theatralics added.



That brings me to a thought I have had quite often. Knowing that Stockhausen had quite a good sense of humor makes certain weird and excentric stuff from his "Licht" days appear to me in a slightly ironic light. Although I might be mislead here.

[fearandpanic]

That brings me to a thought I have had quite often. Knowing that Stockhausen had quite a good sense of humor makes certain weird and excentric stuff from his "Licht" days appear to me in a slightly ironic light.

I wish I could take them in that spirit, but no, it never happens like that. Then again, I definitely haven't engaged with those pieces as much as you have. I've just seen a few sections here and there occasaionally daring to peek out from behind my fingers.

The only one where I think he was aware of the ridiculousness of it all, and might have been playing off it, is Stimmung--among the spoken words there are some pretty ridiculous utterances.

Well, maybe that and the helicopter piece (I hope).

[mitch]

Sad news indeed. 79 is fairly young these days...

Don't you mean either 'Song of the Youths' or 'Contacts'? Or maybe you could play 'Cross-play', 'Counter-Points', 'Groups', or 'Anthems'.

What's wrong with using German titles? It sounds alot better.

Um, nothing.

As Jon mentioned a few posts back, we're poking fun at the NYTimes obit, which presents the pieces with English titles, despite the whole world knowing them by the German ones.

-mm

[Cornelis]

In my opinion Stockhausen was the least great of the "greats" of modernism that converged in Darmstadt (Ligeti, Nono, Boulez). "

I'm a fan of all those people, but I would never try and make a order there...

being a fan of Stockhausen, I would never place hime last, but fans have blind spots I know

I see him more in the tradition of Sun Ra (and Lee Scratch Perry), to make any comparisons in the first place.
They just seemed to bring something extra in their music, something beyond....
Some kind of pure naitivity maybe
(Xenakis had that as well I think........)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/arts/ ... sen-1.html" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't you mean either 'Song of the Youths' or 'Contacts'? Or maybe you could play 'Cross-play', 'Counter-Points', 'Groups', or 'Anthems'.

-mm

Blimey.

"create[s] an image of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego staying alive in Nebuchadnezzar?s fiery furnace"

See, that's how I should have announced it.

Even I was tempted to send a post about arrogance of English speaking people...
So, yes, me and quite a few other couldn't open that link, hence the misunderstanding....
Silly... but also good to sometimes emphisize .....

Cor

[J.F.]

The only one where I think he was aware of the ridiculousness of it all, and might have been playing off it, is Stimmung--among the spoken words there are some pretty ridiculous utterances.
Well, maybe that and the helicopter piece (I hope).

Yup - I have the fantasy Stockhausen actually wrote several pieces - among them certainly the absurd Helikopter Streichquartett you mention - secretly like . I don't know.
The piano piece Xlll is a similar case - it has circus-qualities, and Sesamestreet's "The Count" probably would love it, as much as the helicopter-thing (both pieces include quite a bit of passionate counting - forwards as well as backwards ).

While I'd like to chime in with you concerning Stimmung, which meanwhile I listen to only for good payment (Sternklang is even worse - it's about twice as long).


As I recognise it, Stockhausen in all phases tended to include elements, methods and characteristics in his work that went beyond what was ... uhh ... "accepted standard", thereby irritating most (respectively contemporary) listeners. Everyonce in a while in his catalogue, from Kreuzspiel on, he created stuff that in the first place alienated the scene. I see that as a constant factor in his development through the years, up to the Helikopter Streichquartett and stuff like that.

[SuperlativeHors]

Um, nothing.

As Jon mentioned a few posts back, we're poking fun at the NYTimes obit, which presents the pieces with English titles, despite the whole world knowing them by the German ones.

-mm

Oh right. Well keep up the good work then.

[letchhausen]

Thought that was rather funny, actually. Odd.. it's as if Stockhausen died for me sometime in the mid 80s, when he disappeared into the Verlag (gulag?). with its gaudy photos of birthday cakes and frilly shirts and inevitable (yawn) "Stockhausen and the Beatles" pages. I've been telling myself for years now that I'd invest in the complete archive of recordings but I still haven't got round to it. I still take out my well-thumbed copy of "Conversations with Jonathan Cott" from time to time and wonder what might have happened if he'd stayed in the Deutsche Grammophon limelight. Then again, he might have ended up like Steve Reich, interminably recycling earlier glories with an ageing band of old hands to a public who turn up more out of a sense of obligation than a real love for the music. One thing is clear to me though: that between 1954 and 1974 he produced a string of extraordinary works. So what if he "nicked" Stimmung from La Monte Young, or Refrain from Feldman. So what if he "served imperialism" (he wasn't the first, and he wouldn't be the last). So what if he was a total megalomaniac control freak.. Kontra-punkte, Gesang, Kontakte, Gruppen, Carr?, Momente, all the Klavierstucke, Hymnen, Telemusik and Mantra move me to tears. The man's music completely changed my life, and there are relatively few people I can say that of.

Thanks Dan, that's one of the few fitting posts here. In 1988 I remember hearing Gegang Der Junglinge and Kontakte (on acid no less) and having my mind utterly blown. During this time I was mainly into things like Butthole Surfers, Cows, Whitehouse, TG, Einsturzende, Nick Cave etc and this experience is what opened me up to 20th century classical and Stockhausen in particular. The owner of the record store I worked at had Stockhausen music boxes and every Stockhausen record so I had a good source. Stockhausen's utterly committed (and often strange) ideas were inspirational to me and opened up a world of sounds to me that provided a completely different context to everything I had been pursuing and listening to up to that point. I don't find his later music as interesting overall but still found it worthwhile to check out and always admired the totality of his ideas and his committment to bring them to fruition. Right now I'm feeling totally at a loss because on my upcoming travel list was to make a trip to Europe for art tourism and hopefully to attend a Stockhausen performance. I'm sure I'll get to hear his music but not with him there and that's sad indeed.

[Richard Pinnell]

A special tribute show on Radio 3's Hear and Now programme on Saturday evening:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/hearandnow/pip/rrci9/

On a slightly unrelated note the 22nd December Hear and Now programme looks great also.