Zyklus/Refrain/Transición II

Karlheinz Stockhausen/Mauricio Kagel - split release [S/8001]

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zyklus (1959) for one percussionist

Performed by Christoph Caskel - marimbaphone, guiro, two wood drums, African tree drums, suspended Indian bells, side drum, four tom-toms, two cymbals, high hat, two triangles, vibraphone, four cowbells, gong, tam-tam, soft and hard sticks of different materials

In ZYKLUS the primarily static, open form of my KLAVIERSTUCK XI - which literally depends on the "Augenblick," the instantaneous glance of the eye - has been combined with the idea of a dynamic, closed form, resulting in a circular, curved form. Sixteen pages of notation have been spiral-bound to one another, side by side; there is no beginning and no end; the player may start on whichever page he pleases, but he then must play a cycle in the given succession. During the performance the player stands in the center of a circle of percussion instruments and turns, from one playing position to another, once around his own axis, clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the direction in which he has chosen to read.

Areas containing dots and groups of notes and symbols vary from one another through differences in the number of possible combinations; they mediate continuously, in their composed succession, between the entirely unequivocal and the extremely ambiguous. The structure with the greatest indeterminateness - the most ambiguous form - is shaped in such a way that it comes to be almost indistinguishable from the immediately following most firmly fixed structure.

Thus one experiences a temporal circle in which one has the impression of moving constantly in the direction toward ever-increasing ambiguousness (clockwise) or certainty (counterclockwise), although at the critical point at which the extremes touch, one of them imperceptibly turns into the other. The purpose is to close the open form through the circle, to realize the static state within the dynamic, the aimless with the aimed, not to exclude or destroy one aspect or another, not to seek a synthesis in a third state, but rather to attempt again to eliminate the dualism and to mediate between the seemingly incompatible, the utterly different. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Refrain (1959) for three performers

Performed by Aloys Kontarsky - piano wood blocks; Bernhard Kontarsky - celeste, antique cymbals; Christoph Caskel - vibraphone, cowbells, glockenspiel

Those who wish to understand what I have written for the three players in REFRAIN must read the score.

Those who wish to understand how the players interpret my score must know the score and compare performances.

Those who simply wish to hear (not understand) a piece of music need only listen.

What is left to be explained?

(Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Mauricio Kagel - Transición II (1959) for piano, percussion and two magnetic tapes

Performed by David Tudor - piano; Christoph Caskel - percussion

"Transición II" already has been posted not too long ago by H.C. Earwicker on his Kagel tribute compilation. However, as this is also performed by the same musicians, this is a different performance as this version is about three minutes longer than the one H.C. included in his post. I hope that he doesn't mind if I post this version here.

side 1

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zyklus {11:41}

2. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Refrain {8:04}

side 2

1. Mauricio Kagel - Transición II {17:25}

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