Karlheinz Stockhausen-Music Im Bauch/Tierkreis (DG 1977)

 



















 


Excerpts from the booklet (enclosed):

MUSIC IN THE BELLY:

 Julika, my little girl,was about 2 years old when one evening all kinds of little sounds started coming from her insides and I said to her, "Why Julika- you have music on your belly!"(...)
In 1974, 7 years later, as I awoke one morning, I heard and saw a performance of Music In The Belly, exactly as I have now written it down.However, several details took shape only when I started composing.For instance, I wrote not only the three melodies which are imparted to the listener, revealed tone for tone and motive for motive- they are born as a whole and finally even handed over to the listener- I composed, instead, 12 melodies- one for each sign of the Zodiac.Each of these melodies has its own particular character and its own central pitch.(...)
For a performance,the players choose 3 melodies and everything they play comes from these.The marimba plays one of them stretched over the entire length of the performance.The klangplatten* play the three chosen melodies one after another and in their total duration, determine the length of the performance. The other instruments interpret motives and single notes of the melodies, or they play the melodies in various tempi simultaneously.
For the world premiere in Royan,France on March 28,1975 with "Les Percussions de Strasbourg", I chose the melodies LEO- AQUARIUS- CAPRICORN (they occur in the order,each played in 16:1 augmentation on the klangplatten, these notes serve as time orientation for the other players.
For this recording, the same order af these 3 melodies has been chosen.
*"Klangplatten"-Literally "sound plates"- are panels made of a metal alloy which,when struck,sound like low bells with very strong penetrating low fundamentals and long resonance.They differ from "plattenglocken"("plate bells") in that these are made of bronze and sound distinctly like low church bells.

Performance Description (excerpted from the booklet,enclosed):

 (from)1-In the middle of the open stage hangs a birdman with the name MIRON (who is covered in strings of small bells). The silvery glittering klangplatten stand stage left in front of a sky blue, sound-reflecting partition,at the front edge of the stage are three small tables,at stage right a marimba,and in the background of the stage,at the left and right,one set of antique cymbals each,and in the middle a glockenspiel. In front of  MIRON stands yet another, small glockenspiel on a low stool.(...)

 (from) IV- The three players begin very slowly , then gradually faster to run bizarrely in a circle around MIRON, continuously hittin him more intensely, until they create through an secstatic dance with wild leaps, a dense rattling and tinkling of bells and tramping on the floor.

V-At three peals of the tubular bell, they all freeze and stare at MIRON.Player 1 looks to the exit,runs out,comes back with a large pair of scissors and cuts open MIRON's stomach.He searches inside the stomach with his hand,pulls out a small wooden box,looks around,sees one of the small tables (at the left edge of the stage, goes there.places the box on the table,opens the cover of the box and the music box melody of th LION begins.He goes to the small glockenspiel in front of MIRON and plays the melody simultaneously with the music blx the second time that it begins.
(...)

ZODIAC
 
After I had dreamed Music In The Belly, I inquired about music box factories, and landed after some searching in the music box factory Reuge in 1450 Sainte Croix in Switzerland.There I learned how music boxes are built and what one must consider when on wishes to compose for them. I learned,by the way,that until then, only arrangements of fragments from compositions and from songs were made for music boxes and that there were no original compositions for them in existence.

Apart from this, I began to busy myself with the 12 human characters of the Zodiac of which I had until then only a vague idea.In inventing each melody I thought of the character of children,friends,and aquaintances,who were born under the various star signs,and I studied the human types of the star signs more thoroughly.Each melody is now composed with all its measure and proportion in keeping with the characteristics of its respective star sign, and one will discover many legitimacies when one hears a melody often,and exactly contemplates its construction(...)


Karlheinz Stockhausen- Music Im Bauch/Tierkreis

Side One:  

a1-Music In The Belly for 6 Percussionists and 3 Music Boxes (33:13)

Side Two: b1-12: Tierkreis (Zodiac) for Music Boxes

I-Aquarius     (1:25)
II-Pisces      (2:10)
III-Aries      (1:59)
IV-Taurus      (1:36)
V-Gemini       (1:31)
VI-Cancer      (1:35)
VII-Leo        (1:53)
VIII-Virgo     (1:22)
IX-Libra       (1:46)
X-Scorpio      (2:14)
XI-Sagittarius (1:59)
XII-Capricorn  (1:41)























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