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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Marius Constant/Karlheinz Stockhausen-14 STATIONS/ZYKLUS (Erato 1972?)

Marius Constant / Karlheinz Stockhausen-14 STATIONS / ZYKLUS
(Erato STU 70603) 1972?

Today would have been Marius Constant's 87th Birthday.
He died 15th May, 2004, aged 79.


The (rather spare) cover notes are in French, and I dare not risk the translating of technical terms.Since I couldn't find anything much online, you're stuck with my two bits worth.

Here is another Marius Constant record which has similar features to the other one I've posted:
Intelligent and creative use of unique instrumentation; primarily percussion, but including prepared electric guitar (either this or maybe the cello through a wah-pedal at one point), harpsichord, trombone, violin and viola.
The percussion batterie is enormous- the cover photos (enclosed) show images presumably taken at the recording session- Many gongs, 2 octaves of temple blocks, all the mallet instruments, loads of cowbells, tympani, and so forth.
The writing is primarily timbral and dramatic use is made of dynamic contrasts, space, and surprising color combinations. The piece has a ritual flavour (in it's theme,of course -The crucifixion, but also) in it's sound and the somewhat distinct division of Stations - (still not distinct enough for me to risk separating them) with the pitched instruments acting as spectators or commentators to the action.

Karlheinz Stockhausen's Zyklus is a (partially) graphic score which allows the percussionist to choose the order of the 12 parts, and thus the music unfolds differently in each performance, adding the extra element of risk if the performer decides not to choose the order until the moment of playing.
I have no idea what approach Gualda used, but the result is a strident, confident reading which seems more rhythmic and dramatic than the other versions I've heard. The playing is virtuosic and sounds multi-tracked at times; If it isn't, Gualda is an octopus.


Side One:
Marius Constant-14 Stations Pour Percussion Et Six Instruments

1-La Condamnation
2-La Croix
3-Première Chute
4-La Mère
5-Simon
6-Véronique
7-Deuxième Chute
8-Exhortation Aux Femmes
9-Troisième Chute
10-Vétements Arrachés

Side Two:

11-Crucifixion
12-La Mort
13-Descente
14-Ensevelissement
Percussion – Sylvio Gualda
Leader – Marius Constant
with:
Guitar [Prepared Electric Guitar] – Pierre Urbain
Harpsichord – Elisabeth Chojnacka
Cello – Jacques Wiederker
Trombone – Camille Verdier
Viola – Paul Hadjaje
Violin – Jacques Ghestem

15-Karlheinz Stockhausen-Zyklus Pour Percussion

Percussion – Sylvio Gualda






















Photography By – Jean-Pierre Leloir
Engineer – Guy Laporte
Mixed By – Bernard Leroux
Soloists on 1 to 14 from Ars Nova Ensemble.
file repaired

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Karlheinz Stockhausen- TRANS

Karlheinz Stockhausen- TRANS


From the liner notes (enclosed):

"Two rows of strings sit one behind the other at the front of the stage from extreme left to extreme right, the second row somewhat higher.
They play slowly,completely synchronously-like dolls-the whole time, synchronized by weaving loom sounds which shoot through the hall out of loudspeakers...over the heads of the people,very penetrating.
The curtain slowly opens (in the Donaueschingen performance many voices in the public said "Ohhhhhh..." because the entire orchestra is bathed in a violet light and everything looks so unreal...)
There is a large orchestra of winds and percussion divided into four groups. And the four groups are amplified over four loudspeakers...
But one never sees this orchestra during the performance.
One hears an orchestral work the entire time, but the strings sit in front of the major orchestra and the strings play only a sound-curtain and they optically cover the major orchestra.It is therefore a metaphysical work insofar as the entire time, one feels:"the essential is "behind" but one cannot see it!
...I dreamed the piece. That is why I cannot speak at all freely about it: I do not have an objective relation to it.I simply dreamed it thus".

About the record:
The tape recording of the world premiere in Donaueschingen (Oct.16,1971 Southwest German Radio) is reproduced on Side A of this record.It is- with all the reactions of the public- a document of the hot atmosphere of a Stockhausen premiere.Performances with other orchestras followed, and the symphony orchestra of the Saarland Radio, conducted by Hans Zender, performed TRANS twice in November 1973 in the city theater of Metz, France, and made a studio recording in January 1974. This recording is reproduced on side B, to point out how very much the sound Picture of TRANS changes, through interpretation, acoustics of the hall, various methods of instrument amplification and recording technique.


















Side One:

TRANS
Urauffuhrung (First Performance-Creation) (28:20)


Side Two:

TRANS
Studioaufnamme (Studio Recording) (26:10)


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Avant Garde Piano REPOST

various artists compilation - Avant Garde Piano

released on LP

David Burge - piano

LUCIANO BERIO - Sequenza IV (1966)

Luciano Berio completed Sequenza IV during the spring of 1966, thereby adding another work to his series of solo Sequenze (the first is for flute, the second for harp, the third for voice, the fourth for piano, the fifth for trombone, and the sixth for viola.) In each of these compositions the composer has written a work of substance that is unique to its specific repertory. Having first thoroughly reassessed the potential of the given instrument (or voice, in the case of Sequenza III), he then seizes on those particular capabilities that best suit his extraordinary imagination and proceeds to develop them in an organic manner.

LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera (1952)

For purity of melodic expression, few recent piano compositions can rival the Quaderno Musicale by Luigi Dallapiccola. Written in the classical twelve-tone technique, it has already become a "classic" work in the repertory. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival in 1952, and "is dedicated to my dear daughter Annalibera on the day of her eighth birthday."

The title, Musical Notebook for Annalibera, is not without reference to another Musical Notebook - that for Anna Magdalena Bach. In fact, in the first movement one may hear the familiar B-A-C-H figure (always, however, transposed from the usual B-flat starting point - would the fastidious Italian have found such an overly direct homage ostentatious?) Like Bach, Dallapiccola is concerned with counterpoint; three of the succeeding ten movements are strict canons.

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN - Klavierstuck VIII (1954)

As is the case with all the music on this recording, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstuck VIII is notated with extreme care with regard to pitches, rhythms, and dynamics. The ninety-six-second span of the work is articulated by assymmetrical phrases of great activity interspersed with moments of repose, the latter invariably consisting of single pitches which, however, are never of the same duration. This balance between activity and repose gives shape to the characteristically abstract, spatial nature of the music.

PIERRE BOULEZ - Premiere Sonate (1947)

The First Sonata by Pierre Boulez is an early work, often overshadowed by the massive Second Sonata and the fantastic maze which constitutes the Third. Astonishing in itself, the First Sonata is even more impressive when one considers the youth of its author and the time of its writing (the first two years after the cultural ravages of World War II). It is often said that this work and the early Flute Sonatine show the strong influence of Webern; this may be so, but it is an assertive, flamboyant type of Webernism unknown in the older composer's works.
...
The piano writing itself is remarkable. Virtually the entire keyboard is utilized at all times, especially in the rapid sections. In other passages a new kind of counterpoint depends for its effect not at all on the progress of individual voices, which are essentially unheard, but on the resultant sound of several equal voices moving at unequal speeds.
While Boulez continues to use bar lines in this and several succeeding works, they are not meant to imply metrical accents but are inserted "as visual aids" to the performer. Several summers ago I had a visit from Ernst Krenek at a time when I was preparing the First Sonata. I recall with amusement an hour or so during which I played passages over and over while that marvelous gentleman, in a flaming orange shirt, brown shorts, and sandals, strode around the room in a most concerned manner as he tried to coax me into completely eliminating any semblance of beat or bar line accent.

ERNST KRENEK - Sechs Vermessene (1958)

Krenek's own Sechs Vermessene also employ bar lines, and the pitches, rhythms, durations, densities, and dynamics are achieved by a process of serialization that is as close to "total" as is humanly possible. Thus, in a certain sense, the music is "composed" before a single note is set down (one may be reminded, obliquely, of the title of Machaut's rondeau: "Ma fin est mon commencement, et mon commencement ma fin"). Due to the complexity of the serialization, and in spite of the clarity of Krenek's notational solutions, some formidable performance problems, especially rhythmic, are presented to the pianist. Therefore it is interesting to note that the effect of much of the Six Measurements is that of random improvisation, a fact that genuinely delights the composer! (David Burge)



Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Luciano Berio - Sequenza IV {9:23}

2. Luigi Dallapiccola - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera {12:47}

Side 2

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Klaveierstuck VIII {1:36}

2. Pierre Boulez - Premiere Sonate {9:06}

3. Ernst Krenek - Sechs Vermessene {10:58}

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Zodiac: 12 Melodies of the Star Signs

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zodiac: 12 Melodies of the Star Signs

CD (recording) released in 2003

piece composed in 1975

Performers:

Wolfgang Fernow - double bass
Stefan Hussong - accordion
Michael Kiedaisch - drums and vibraphone
Michael Riessler - bass clarinet
Scott Roller - cello
Mike Svoboda - trombone, music boxes and musical direction

The astrological zodiac is a construct based on observations of the heavenly bodies that people of earlier ages and various cultures used to project the circumstances of a macrocosm beyond human influence onto the microcosm of earthly life. The observation of the stars and the derivation of events on earth and the fates of human beings from the old divinities that guide them could not only become a more or less direct plan of action as well as a form of legitimation of control over others but could also satisfy a search for the meaning of existence. The zodiac is - as an expression of the recurrence of time - not only an expression of the immutability of natural life processes and human existence but also a way of ensuring the stability of cosmic and human relationships.

At first it may seem surprising that Karlheinz Stockhausen - a composer who until that time had been one of the first champions of a particular informed, rationalist approach to the craft of composition and the musical material - would organize a composition around a culturally charged tradition such as this one. It is, however, understandable against the backdrop of a general turn from the rigor of serial composition in the early 1970s - a development that can be explained by reference to a crisis in European composition. It resulted in a new orientation for Stockhausen himself, who now turned to "intuitive" music and to a style of writing that - without seeking to deny that the roots of the approach were based on technical approaches to music - focused the act of composition on criteria such as intelligibility of musical texture and immediacy of aesthetic experience.

The twelve signs of the zodiac - which can be divided into fire, water, earth, and air signs or spring, summer, fall, and winter signs - represent a rationally organized whole that lends itself easily to serving as the foundation for a composition that (as a "composition on formulas") makes use of systematic organizational methods just as much as Stockhausen's earlier works did. The orientation of the twelve melodic shapes of Tierkreis: 12 Melodien der Sternzeichen [Zodiac: 12 Melodies of the Star Signs] (work no. 41 1/2) on the astrological zodiac also entails an orientation around the planets and mythological gods that are associated with them and the twelve basic human types that derive from them.
...
The twelve melodies - each of which is to be repeated at least three times in any realization - are marked by extreme conciseness, concentration, and beguiling simplicity. Each melody uses all the notes of the chromatic scale. The brief melodies, which differ in overall duration, tempos, and range, are completely free of motivic elaboration; they are almost totally indifferent to tonality. At the same time, they seem to have been stripped of any memory of the usual techniques of New Music, such as traditional methods or serial procedures. Stockhausen's compositional decisions were clearly occupied entirely with the desire to give each melody an unmistakable character. He himself described the melodies (of Sirius, which are identical with those of Tierkreis) as "neither diatonic nor tonal nor atonal. It [the melody for 'Libra'] is a new kind of centered twelve-tone melody." (Rolf W. Stoll)

recording contains two realizations" realization 1 for bass clarinet, trombone, accordion, percussion, cello, bass and music boxes: tracks 4 through 9 and tracks 16 through 21

realization 2 for six improvisors, music boxes and tape: tracks 1 through 3, tracks 10 through 15, and tracks 22 through 24

Tracklisting:

1. Capricorn {3:14}

2. Aquarius {3:17}

3. Pisces {3:22}

4. Capricorn {2:56}

5. Aquarius {2:54}

6. Pisces {4:22}

7. Aries {2:11}

8. Taurus {3:58}

9. Gemini {3:15}

10. Aries {3:00}

11. Taurus {2:58}

12. Gemini {3:24}

13. Cancer {1:50}

14. Leo {3:49}

15. Virgo {2:26}

16. Cancer {2:30}

17. Leo {3:01}

18. Virgo {2:02}

19. Libra {4:36}

20. Scorpio {4:41}

21. Sagittarius {2:18}

22. Libra {2:52}

23. Scorpio {2:33}

24. Sagittarius {3:48}

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Dal niente

Eduard Brunner - Dal niente

recorded October 1995, released 1997

Eduard Brunner - clarinet

The composition Piri by Isang Yun, originally scored for the oboe, exploits the nuances of the single tone in a manner characteristic of East Asian music. Eduard Brunner transforms it into a paradigmatic clarinet piece.
...
Igor Stravinsky recommended the A clarinet with its darker timbre in the first two of his Three Pieces for Clarinet. The deep register thus has the effect of a Gedackt organ stop in the first of the three miniatures. The second piece as well as the third, which is played in the Bb clarinet, recall the puppet and fairy-tale world of Petrushka and The Soldier's Tale with their airy, lightfooted, prancing figurations. Stravinsky jotted down the following previously unpublished miniature of five measures on a decorative telegram with the works "Apprille Rome 1917." It is dedicated to Picasso.
...
The Domaines by Pierre Boulez, also existant in a version for orchestra, illustrate the aleatory practice used by the composer to counteract the danger of formal rigidity inherent in serial thinking. According to the instructions in the score, the soloist is at liberty to decide on the order of the six Cahiers designated as Original, followed by six Miroirs (although "palindrome" would be an equally appropriate designation since most of these are reversed forms of the Originals).
...
In Freundshaft (In Friendship), composed for the clarinettist Suzanne Stephens, was designed by Karlheinz Stockhausen so that it can be played by different solo instruments. The piece is composed in three layers, as horizontal polyphony.
...
In Preghiera per un'ombra, Giacinto Scelsi also works with layers and registers in structuring the sound space. But instead of adhering to a strictly multilayered model, he lays a melodic trail by playing around single notes that recur elsewhere in the space of the sound, like hidden paths.
...
Like Accanto for clarinet and orchestra, composed for Eduard Brunner in 1976, which also investigated the realm of pure sound, Helmut Lachenmann's Dal niente (Interieur III) also exploits the entire spectrum of possibilities contained in the clarinet. . . . Lachenmann's penchant for the shadowside, for rough surfaces, hollowed sounds or what might be called the unlit side of sound, could be interpreted as a musical version of Brecht's visual metaphors - "Those in the shadows remain unseen" - or perhaps only as an expression of scepticism towards the hackneyed language of conventional notions of the beautiful tone. And yet these sounds bespeak the power of musical invention. (Max Nyffeler)

Tracklisting:

1. Piri {10:25}
composed by Isang Yun

2. Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo: I {1:30}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

3. Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo: II {1:08}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

4. Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo: III {1:19}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

5. Piece for Clarinet Solo {0:38}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

6. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier A Original {0:43}
composed by Pierre Boulez

7. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier D Original {1:00}
composed by Pierre Boulez

8. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier F Original {2:29}
composed by Pierre Boulez

9. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier E Original {0:57}
composed by Pierre Boulez

10. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier B Original {1:38}
composed by Pierre Boulez

11. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier C Original {0:54}
composed by Pierre Boulez

12. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier C Miroir {0:58}
composed by Pierre Boulez

13. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier D Miroir {1:05}
composed by Pierre Boulez

14. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier E Miroir {1:03}
composed by Pierre Boulez

15. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier A Miroir {0:54}
composed by Pierre Boulez

16. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier B Miroir {1:21}
composed by Pierre Boulez

17. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier F Miroir {2:38}
composed by Pierre Boulez

18. In Freundschaft {12:32}
composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen

19. Preghiera per un'ombra {11:04}
composed by Giacinto Scelsi

20. Dal niente (Interieur III) {16:16}
composed by Helmut Lachenmann

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Psappha

Shiniti Ueno - Psappha: 20th Century Solo Percussion Masterpieces Vol. 1

Shiniti Ueno, a multi-percussionist and founder and leader of Phonix Reflexion, started studying marimba and piano at the age of three. He was a percussionist for the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and then was principal percussionist and timpanist for the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. . . . As a solo performer, he has given many Japanese and world premieres of contemporary composers. Currently living in Tokyo, Ueno is on the faculty of Kunitachi College of Music.

About the music:

Pieces for Timpani composed by Elliott Carter

These are part of the eight pieces for Timpani composed between 1950 and 1966. They are significant in that they changed the very concept of Timpani sound by adding sounds of rim shots, explosions, and death sounds. It is not too much to say that many of the timpani techniques used in contemporary music first appeared in these pieces. Carter's unique approach to rhythmic aspect of music can be seen in his mathematical representations of tempo and rhythm in his music. Each of the pieces is dedicated to a renouned American timpanist: "Recitative" is dedicated to Morris Lang; "March" to Saul Goodman; "Moto Perpetuo" and "Improvisation" to Paul Price. (Shiniti Ueno)

Zyklus composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen

This piece was first performed in Darmstadt in 1959 by Christoph Caskel. The title means "circle," and the music, which consists of 16 pages, does not proceed in the traditional fashion of from beginning to end, but allows the performer to start from any page and proceed in any direction. Each page gives directions of how to perform the piece by way of figures and signs, and the piece is played once through in accordance with the directions given, beginning at the performer's chosen location and ending with the first note that was played at the beginning. This freedom of the performer, however, is limited within the composer's calculated order. The performer nonetheless is allowed to try various combinations and choices, making the performance his or her own. This kind of music is a challenge to the performer's musical sensitivity and his or her ability to bring out the best in the music, which can be very rewarding if successful. I first heard the performance of this piece when I was still in high school. It was performed by Gualda at Ueno Bunka-Kaikan in Tokyo. During my studies abroad, I was also very fortunate to have had a chance to study with Gualda and Caskel, and this experience has remained invaluable to me. (Shiniti Ueno)

Optical Time for Timpani Solo composed by Isao Matsushita

I composed "Optical Time" in 1987, commissioned by Mr. Ueno, who premiered it in his recital in the same year, and it has since been performed on various occasions. The central concept is to create spaceoptical time by using only 5 timpanis rather than creating musical space using various instruments. At the beginning of the piece, the musical line starts from far away, and individual sounds gradually mass together, and radiate into the wider space. This "Optical Time" also features pedaling which controls timpani tones and creates a spectacular display of spaceoptical time. (Isao Matsushita)

Ground for Solo Percussion composed by Norio Fukushi

Commissioned by Sumire Yoshihara, I composed "Ground" in 1976. Performed at international musical competitions in Geneva and Munich in the 90s, "Ground" has since been boldly played at college graduations. It requires high technical skill in that multiple instruments must be played simultaneously. For this reason, for the first ten years, no one except for Ms. Yoshihara included this piece in her or his repertoire. Aside from Ms. Yoshihara, Mr. Shiniti Ueno is the only exception that I know of thus far. I admire wholeheartedly his power to challenge the frontier of percussive art from different angles, and am very excited with this new recording. Its structure consists of five parts: wood, metal, leather, metal, and wood. The background of the whole is sustained by the combination of the static rhythm and the delicate organic rhythms that repeatedly increase and decrease. (Norio Fukushi)

Psappha composed by Iannis Xenakis

"Psappha" is an archaic form of Sappho, the ancient Greek woman poet. Her poems are characterized by their "Sapphic" rhythm, which gives this piece its rhythmic inspiration. "Psappha" was first performed by my teacher Silvio Gualda in London, while I was studying in france. Inspired by all of the invaluable advice I recieved from both Professor Gualda and composer Mr. Xenakis this has become a memorable repertoire. (Shiniti Ueno)

Tracklisting:

1. Pieces for Timpani: Recitative {3:17}

2. Pieces for Timpani: March {2:54}

3. Pieces for Timpani: Moto Perpetuo {2:08}

4. Pieces for Timpani: Improvisation {2:45}

5. Zyklus {16:04}

6. Optical Time for Timpani Solo {15:22}

7. Ground for Solo Percussion {15:33}

8. Psappha {13:11}

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Stimmung

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Stimmung

performed by Singcircle

What was important for the creation of Stimmung was the fact that I'd just come back from Mexico where I'd spent a month walking through the ruins, visiting Oaxaca, Merida, and Chichenitza, and becoming a Maya, a Toltec, a Zapotec, an Aztec, or a Spaniard - I became the people. The magic names of the Aztec gods are spoken in Stimmung. . . . And then the space. I sat for hours on the same stone, watching the proportions of certain Mayan temples with their three wings, watching how they were slightly out of phase. I relived ceremonies, which were sometimes very cruel. The religious cruelty isn't in Stimmung, only sounds, the whole general feeling of the Mexican plains with their edifices going into the sky - the quietness, on one side, and the sudden changes, on the other. (Karlheinz Stockhausen from Stockhausen - Conversations with the Composer by Jonathan Cott)

Stimmung is divided into 51 sections. In each section a new overtone melody or 'model' is introduced and repeated several times. Each female voice leads a new section eight times, and each male voice, nine times. Some of the other singers gradually have to transform their own material until they have come into 'identify' with the lead singer of the section; they do this by adopting the same character as the leader in tempo, rhythm and dynamics. When the lead singer feels that 'identity' has been reached, he or she makes a gesture to another singer who leads the next section. Each model is a set of rhythmic phonetic patterns, often with actual words used as their basis, such as 'Hallelujah' or 'Saturday'.

In 29 of the sections, 'magic names' are called out. These are the names of gods and goddesses from many cultures - Aztec, aboriginal and Ancient Greek, for instance - and have to be incorporated into the character of the model. The erotic and intimate love-poems that are recited were written by Stockhausen "during amorous days" in 1967.

Different versions of the work result from the order of models and choice of magic names decided upon by the performers. The first version of Stimmung made by the Collegium Vocale is known as the 'Paris version', and has recently been published as work Number 24 1/2. The ensemble has performed this version hundreds of times throughout the world. The 'Singcircle version' of 1977 evolved over many months of rehearsal in London prior to its first performance at the Round House on November 21st. This version was revised after consultations between the composer, Gregory Rose and Simon Emmerson in April 1978.

The word 'Stimmung' has many meanings in its original German. Literally it means 'tuning', but can also indicate 'being in tune with', good or bad atmosphere, and so on. Die Stimme = voice. (Gregory Rose & Helen Ireland) Tracklisting:

1. warming up, leading to Model 1, Bass {3:03}

2. Mezzo. "Gott nochmal" -- Soprano 2. GROGORAGALLY: Sun god (Australian aboriginal) {1:31}

3. Soprano 2. "Vishnu" -- Baritone. ELYON: God of Storms (Hebrew) {0:52}

4. Soprano 1. -- Tenor. USI-AFU: God of the Earth (Timor, Indonesia) {1:18}

5. Baritone. "Saturday", "Saturnstag", "Samstag", "complement nous" -- Tenor. CHANG-TI: Director of the Cosmos (Chinese Buddhist) {1:05}

6. Tenor. {0:32}

7. Baritone. "Hallelujah" {0:28}

8. Soprano 1. -- Mezzo. UEUETEOTL: God of Fire (Aztec) {1:37}

9. Bass. "Phoenix" -- Tenor. USI-NENO: Sun god (Timor, Indonesia) {1:11}

10. Soprano 1. "Komit" (like screech owls) {1:10}

11. Bass. "moo", "moo-coo" (like cows), "Guru" (a dove) -- Baritone. AHURA-MAZDA: God of Wisdom (Persian) {1:08}

12. Tenor. {2:54}

13. Baritone. -- Soprano 2. ABASSI-ABUMO: Creator of Heaven (Ibi. Africa) {1:35}

14. Soprano 2. "hippy" -- Mezzo. CHALCHIHUITLICUE: Goddess of the Sea and Salt Water (Aztec) {1:22}

15. Mezzo. -- Soprano. WAKANTANKA: God of Thunder (Sioux Indian) {1:50}

16. Bass. {0:46}

17. Soprano 1. "The male is basically an anymale" {0:49}

18. Tenor. {1:44}

19. Bass. "Sontag", "Sunday" -- Soprano 1. DIONYSOS: God of Fertility and Wine (Greek) {1:08}

20. Soprano 2. {1:29}

21. Baritone. {0:36}

22. Mezzo. {1:10}

23. Baritone. {1:50}

24. Soprano 2. -- Soprano 1. VENUS: Goddess of Love (Roman) {1:15}

25. Mezzo. "Wotansday", "Mittwoch", "We(d)nesday" -- Baritone. YAH-WEH: God of Israel (Hebrew) {2:27}

26. Soprano 1. "Tuesday" -- Mezzo. QUETZALCOATL: God of gods (Aztec) {1:06}

27. Tenor. {0:59}

28. Bass. -- Soprano 2. MUNGANAGANA: God of wind (Australian aboriginal) {0:58}

29. Baritone. -- Mezzo. TLALOC: God of Rain (Aztec) {1:03}

30. Soprano 1. {0:55}

31. Mezzo. {0:51}

32. Baritone. {4:19}

33. Soprano 2. "Friday", 'Freitag" -- Baritone. OSIRIS: God of Fertility and Death (Egyptian) -- Tenor. ALLAH: Almighty Creator (Islamic) -- Soprano 1. RHEA: Mother of Zeus (Ancient Greek) {1:35}

34. Soprano 1. "Niemals" -- Tenor. "VISHNU: The Bringer of Good (Hindu) {0:51}

35. Bass. "Sehr hell", "Helena" -- Soprano 1. GAIA: Goddess of the Earth (Ancient Greek) {1:19}

36. Tenor. -- Mezzo. TETEOINNAN: Mother of the Gods (Aztec) {1:30}

37. Mezzo. -- Soprano 2. SUSSISTINAKO: God of Heaven (Sia, American Indian) {1:37}

38. Soprano 1. "Salemaleikum", "Salami-e", "Come-on" -- Bass. RANGI: God of Heaven (Maori, Polynesia) {1:39}

39. Mezzo. "Moonsday" -- Baritone. ATUM-RA: Goddess of the Sun (Ancient Egyptian) {0:55}

40. Baritone. {0:50}

41. Bass. "Thorstag", "Thursday", "Donnerstag"; "Freitag Samstag Sonntag Montag Dienstag Mittwoch Donnerstag" -- Soprano 2. YADILQIL: Heaven-Man (Navajo, American Indian) {1:01}

42. Baritone. "Nemesis", "Artemis" -- Tenor. VARUNA: God of Wisdom (Hindu) {0:59}

43. Tenor. neighing (like a horse) {0:39}

44. Bass. {2:37}

45. Soprano 2. {0:55}

46. Tenor. -- Soprano 1. CHRONOS: God of Time (Ancient Greek) -- Mezzo. CHICOMECOATL God of Food (Aztec) {1:20}

47. Soprano 1. -- Tenor. BUDDHA: The Enlightened One (Buddhist) {1:38}

48. Mezzo. "Maria" -- Bass. TANGAROA: Sun God (Maori, Polynesia) {1:26}

49. Tenor. {0:50}

50. Soprano 2. {0:58}

51. Tenor. {2:10}

(1) or (1)

Telemusik/Mixtur

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Telemusik/Mixtur

TELEMUSIK was composed between January and April, 1966, in the studio for electronic music of the Japanese Radio Nippon Hoso Kyokai, Tokyo. During my first 8 or 9 days in Tokyo I could not sleep: one vision came again and again, a vision of sounds, new technical processes, formal relationship, pictures of notation, human relationships - all at once and in a network too tangled up to be unraveled in one logical process. In all this I wanted to come closer to the realisation of an old dream: to take a step further in the direction of composing not "my" music, but a music of the whole world, of all countries and all races. I am certain you will hear them in TELEMUSIK, these mysterious visitors: from the Imperial Japanese court (the Gagaku Players), from the happy isle of Bali, from the southern Sahara, from a Spanish village fiesta, from Hungary, from the Shipibos of the Amazon, from the Omizutori ceremony in Nara, in which I participated for three days and nights, from China - fantastic virtuosity! - from the Kohyasan temple, from the Vietnamese highlands, about whom I read gruesome and distorted news every morning in an American-Japanese newspaper in the hotel, and again from Vietnam, and more fascination from Vietnam (what a wonderful people!), from the Buddhist Jakushiji temple, from the Noh drama "Ho Sho Riu", and who knows from where else. They all wanted to participate in TELEMUSIK, sometimes superimposed and interpenetrating each other. I had my hands full in keeping the unknown world of electronically produced sounds open to these guests - I do not know how I did it, I was moonstruck, but I believe I succeeded in composing this TELEMUSIK.

In MIXTUR [version for small orchestra] (composed 1964, premiere in the North German Radio NDR, Hamburg, November 9, 1965), the sounds of a woodwind group, of a brass group and two string groups - one of which plays predominantly pizzicato - are picked up by microphones; the 4 microphone groups lead to 4 mixers, where sound technicians balance the individual microphones as well as regulate the sum of each group.The output of each mixer goes to a ring modulator. According to instructions of the score 4 other musicians "play" sine-wave generators, whose outputs modulate the instrumental sounds in the 4 ring modulators. The results of this modulation are diffused over 4 loudspeaker groups, hence mixed in with the unmodulated orchestral sound: each instrumental sound thus results in a "mixture" sound.

A fifth orchestral group consists of 3 percussionists, each with a cymbal and a tamtam; these are picked up by contact microphones and amplified over 3 separate loudspeakers.

As a result, highly differentiated composition in timbres, as previously possible only in the field of electronic music, is possible here with orchestral instruments also. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Tracklisting:

Seite 1

1. Telemusik {17:11}

Seite 2

1. Mixtur {26:16}

(1)

Mantra

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Mantra

Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky - piano

The formal plan and skeleton of MANTRA for 2 pianists came into being between May 1st and June 20th 1970, in Osaka, Japan. Every morning I composed for ca. 3 hours in my hotel room, before driving at midday to the spherical auditorium at the World Exhibition where, together with 20 young singers and instrumentalists, I performed my music daily from 3:30 p.m. to ca. 9:00 p.m., for over 1 million listeners. Then, from July 10th to August 18th, I worked uninterrupted on the score in Kürten, and on October 18th at 8:30 p.m. the work was premiered by the pianists Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky at the "Donaueschinger Musiktage für Zeitgenössische Tonkunst", as a commission from the Südwestfunk Baden-Baden. The gramophone recording for Deutsche Grammophon took place from the 10th to the 13th June 1971 at Munich, in the recording studio at 22 Kreillerstrasse.

The work arises in its entirety from a 13-note sound-formula, the "Mantra". For the title-cover of the record, I have drawn this "Mantra" in colour. The colours show the structural relationships of the "Mantra" (upper voice) with its mirror image (lower voice); with its 4 limbs - separated by pauses; with its 13 different characteristics which are given by its 13 notes, and each of which determines a large cycle of the work: 1. regular repetition; 2. decay-accent; 3. "normal" note; 4. quick grace-note group around the central note etc.

There is nothing except continual series of this "Mantra" and superimpositions of it over itself, in 12 forms of expansion and 13 x 12 transpositions. That is, in each of the 13 large cycles - in each of which a note from the "Mantra" is itself the central note around which the expanded forms arise - another of the 13 mantric characteristics predominates.
MANTRA, therefore, is not a variation form. The "Mantra" is not varied; not a single note is added, nothing is "accompanied", ornamented etc. The "Mantra" always stays itself, and appears in its twelvefoldness, with its 13 characteristics.
The fast passage before the end is a compression of the whole work into the shortest space of time; all expansions and transpositions are gathered extremely fast into 4 layers.
So-called "ring-modulation", which I have employed as a technical process, makes possible a new system of harmonic relationships. To this end, each of the pianists has an apparatus on his left hand side into which a microphone amplifier, a compressor, a filter, a ring-modulator, a scaled sine-wave generator, and a volume control have been built. The piano sound is amplified by 2 microphones, and ring-modulated by a sine wave. At some distance behind each piano stand loudspeakers which reproduce the modulated sound simultaneously with the played sound. The modulated sound should be somewhat louder than the original sound.
In each of the 13 large cycles of the work, each pianist introduces a sine tone, corresponding each time to the central note around which all the "Mantra"-transformations are centred. The 1st pianist presents the "upper" 13 notes of the "Mantra" in succession, and the 2nd pianist the "lower" 13 notes, that is, the "Mantra"- mirror.
Each 1st and 13th note of each recurrence of the "Mantra" are thus identical to the "mirroring" sine tone; hence they sound completely "consonant", and thus completely "natural"-like notes; and depending on the intervallic remoteness of the remaining "Mantra" notes from the "mirror note" of the ring modulation, the modulated sound sounds more or less "dissonant", and its spectrum more or less unlike the piano (minor seconds, and similarly minor ninths and major sevenths, produce the most "dissonant" modulator-sounds, octaves and fifths the most "consonant"). Hence one perceives a continual "respiration" from consonant to dissonant to consonant modulator-sounds, resulting from the precisely tuned relationships between the modulating sine tones and the modulated piano notes.
Naturally, the unified construction of MANTRA is a musical miniature of the unified macrostructure of the cosmos, just as it is a magnification into the acoustic time-field of the unified micro-structure of the harmonic vibrations in notes themselves. (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kürten, September 15th, 1971)


Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Mantra (1. Teil) {34:56}

Side 2

1. Mantra (2. Teil) {29:40}

(1)

Stockhausen-Berio

Marie-Francoise Bucquet - Stockhausen-Berio

Liner notes by Marie-Francoise Bucquet:

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (born 1928)

Klavierstück IX (1954): If I tried to persuade someone that music is time experienced through sound I would choose Stockhausen's "Klavierstück IX" as an example. Because the opening chord is played 140 times, because this chord is drenched by its own echo and produces its own halo of sound, because the phenomenon of repetition is no longer relevant here and metrical units have ceased to exist, we are at once compelled to alter our whole way of listening. Technique and interpretation count no longer; one must let oneself become impregnated by this music, feel certain sounds almost viscerally, actively experience silence, sense the flow of time, and ultimately, even fall in love with sound . . . which is, I believe, what Stockhausen expects of his interpreter.

Klavierstück XI (1956): First performed on July 28, 1957, Stockhausen's "Piano Piece XI" shares with Boulez's Third Piano Sonata the historical responsibility of being a musical prototype; one which has been taken up by many composers, and has entered the vocabulary of new music under the name of "multiple form."Taking the example of "Piano Piece XI," Stockhausen himself clarifies his intention as "not just to determine one possible solution for all the moments which occur in the unfolding of a whole, but to propose a number of equally acceptable solutions and to integrate the performer's decision regarding the version of his choice." Let me immediately point out that there are several million possibilities in the performance of this piece. By giving the performer the dangerous weapon of choice, chance is introduced in music. According to his ambitions, his imagination, or his courage the pianist can become either what Stockhausen calls a "co-creator" or else a mere pointsman. Personally I don't see how one can possibly play this piece without being totally involved. Before each performance I feel I am about to embark on an adventure, and my curiosity is not yet satisfied. The most fascinating thing about this work is that its outline changes completely with each performer.

LUCIANO BERIO (born 1925)

Cinque Variazioni (1952-53): This work was revised by Berio in 1966 ... and is recorded here for the first time. The Variations, dedicated to Luigi Dallapiccola and akin to his Quaderno Musicale di Anna Libera, belong to a period during which Berio used the strictest and most disciplined technique of composition. Yet, their spontaneity, instinctive lyricism and subtle sound effects break through the rigid frame. The last variation, extensively altered, in the new version, has a density of expression which reminds us of some of Beethoven's adagios.

Berio still uses here the variation form, but his very use of a traditional form proves how the craftsman within him has complete command over his material. This music is meant above all for the ear which can easily follow its overall design.

Sequenza IV for piano (1966): With the seven sequenze for instrument or solo voice, Berio makes a premeditated incursion into the realm of virtuosity. Sequenze I (for flute), II (for harp), III (for solo voice), IV (for piano), V (for trombone), VI (for viola), and VII (for oboe), were written over a period of eleven years: it is therefore obvious that they illustrate the successive stages of Berio's systematic research in the instrumental field.

Berio has said that the sequenze "can be considered as dramatic essays whose action resides in the relation between the soloist and his own instrument."

Himself a pianist, he exploits here the instrument's potential in a masterly way. Memories of Chopin, Liszt, Scarlatti, and Debussy occur, not at a stylistic level, but rather in a sort of digital genesis. The key structural element in this score is the extensive use of the third petal. Depressed immediately after the chosen note or chord, it isolates and prolongs the sound for a time which is precisely determined by the composer. Berio defines the role of the third pedal by explaining that in "Sequenza IV" "two discourses are superimposed, overlap, and sometimes interpenetrate: a real one (entrusted to the keyboard) and a virtual one (entrusted to the pedal)."

Tracklisting:

1. Klavierstück IX {9:18}

2. Klavierstück XI {14:24}

Side 2

1. Cinque Variazioni {9:06}

2. Sequenza IV {11:35}

(1)

The New Music

various artists compilation - The New Music

All pieces performed by the Rome Symphony Orchestra (Bruno Maderna, conductor).

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontra-Punkte (for 10 instruments)

Frederick Rzewski - pianist

My 'Kontra-Punkte' sprang from the idea that in a multiple world of sound, with individual sounds and time relations, conflicts must be solved in such a way that a condition is reached in which only something homogeneous and immutable is perceived. The work is in only one movement. Six different 'tone color' groups are used: flute-bassoon, clarinet-bass clarinet, trumpet-trombone, piano, harp, violin-cello (three pairs of wind instruments blown differently and three kinds of stringed instruments struck, plucked and bowed respectively). These different tone colors merge into a single one: the struck strings of the piano. The other instruments drop out one after the other in this order: trumpet, trombone, bassoon, violin, bass clarinet, harp, clarinet, cello and flute. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (for 52 strings)

"Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" constitutes an unprecedented example of the use of string sonorities. The basic sonic material of "Threnody" consists of: 1) the highest possible sounds on the stringed instruments, obtained by placing the finger on the string right next to the bowing point...; 2) "tone clusters" - absolutely solid bands of sound consisting of all the pitches contained within specific vertical sections....

This cataclysm of sound is arranged in a clear formal structure, which places the listener within a compass of recognizable proportions, with events that are worked out in accordance with a well-calculated plan. And above all, there is beneath this musical exhibitionism the fire of a passionate civil sense and of heartfelt compassion for the victims of violence. In the midst of the blasts and the horrors of the atomic bombing, the few notes the strings play in normal position assume the ancient force of primeval song and of noble compassion for all living things.

Earle Brown - Available Forms I (for chamber ensemble)

"Available Forms I," a work for 18 performers, was composed in 1961 on commission from the city of Darmstadt. In this work the aleatory principle - freedom of choice in performance - is carried to the extremes of an "open form," which is composed each time by the performers, who are provided with only a few elements together with a few instructions for their use. The score consists of six loose pages, with four or five "events" on each page. The conductor may begin with any "event" on any page and continue from one page to another, with or without repetitions and omissions of "events" and pages, combining them any way he wants and stopping on any page and any "event" he chooses. In the orchestra, all six pages of parts can be seen at the same time by the performers, and the conductor indicates where they are to play by moving an arrow around on a large board, placed in full view of all performers and bearing the numbers 1 to 6.

The instruments used are: flute, oboe, clarinet, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, piano, first and second violin, viola, cello and double bass plus two groups of percussion, one of which includes chimes, marimba and timpani, the other xylophone, vibraphone and also timpani.

Henri Pousseur - Rimes pour differentes sources sonores

The nature and purpose of "Rimes pour differentes sources sonores" is explained by the title: to combine (rhyme) electronic sounds recorded on magnetic tape with instrumental sounds. The sound sources are set against each other, reminding some of the 16th-century example of broken or answering choirs in St. Mark's.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontra-Punkte {11:28}

2. Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima {9:34}

Side 2

1. Earle Brown - Available Forms I {8:45}

2. Henri Pousseur - Rimes pour differentes sources sonores {13:34}

(1)

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}

(1)

New Directions in Music 1

Pierre Boulez/Karlheinz Stockhausen - New Directions in Music 1

I didn't mean to go over two weeks without posting anything. Hopefully, I'll be able to resume regular posting. Anyway, I dug out this LP by two familar groundbreaking composers. Enjoy.


Excerpts from the liner notes written by Robert Kraft who conducted the performances on this LP:

Our perfromers were less than wildly enthusiastic about the music at first sight, and even at fifteenth sight they were inclined to invent "lazy dogmas of impossibility" (an early Alpinist quoted in Sir Gavin de Beer's The First Ascent of Mont Blanc). However, the performers now feel that these two pieces are perfectly imagined for their instruments. In fact, the instruments have been used so well and to such effect as to cause every player to regret not having more to play.

Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre for alto voice and six instruments

Performers:

Margery MacKay - alto voice
Arthur Gleghorn - flutist
Milton Thomas - violist
William Kraft - vibraphonist
Dorothy Remsen - xylorimbist
Theodore Norman - guitarist
Walt Goodwin - percussionist (playing bongos, maracas, tambourines, claves, bells, tam-tam, triangle, gong, cymbals, small cymbals)


Though Le Marteau is significant primarily for its own newness, the fact that it brings together two or three diverse strands seems to me almost as important. It is a connecting and tradition-forming work.
...

These are the major composer influences - Webern mostly, Schoenberg for Pierrot Lunaire, Stravinsky in one type of rhythm. Of some part of their music Boulez has made new and significant use. There are other influences and ingredients too, for example, Oriental and Latin American percussion instruments (gongs, maracas, bongos), jazz, the music of Messiaen and Varese.

Le Marteau represents a consolidation and simplification in Boulez's own development, too. It is his first work to have attained a wide success. (Why? Because it is less purely "abstract" than his piano pieces? Because it has a dramatic form and an exotic instrumentation? Because it is comparatively simple to hear and and to follow?)

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zeitmasse for five woodwinds


Performers:

Arthur Gleghorn - flutist
Donald Muggeridge - oboist
Donald Leake - English-horn player
Donald Christlieb - bassoonist
William Ulyate - clarinetist


Electronic music - Stockhausen's own - is the most obvious influence on the Zeitmasse. In fact, the two kinds of composition ought to be considered side by side. The truth is, however, that I am incompetent to do so and will therefore have to stop at recommending the Zeitmasse to the listener as a piece of musical patterns and designs like any other, with tensions, speeds, progression, successive logic of ideas, form, like any other.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: Avant "L'Artisanat furieux" {1:28}

2. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: Commentaire I de "Bourreaux de solitude" {3:38}

3. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: "L'Artisanat furieux" {2:05}

4. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: Commentaire II de "Bourreaux de solitude" {3:05}

5. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: "Bel edifice et les pressentiments" version premiere {2:48}

6. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: "Bourreaux de solitude" {4:16}

7. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: Apres "L'Artisanat furieux" {0:49}

8. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: Commentaire III de "bourreaux de solitude" {4:31}

9. Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maitre: "Bel edifice et les pressentiments" double {6:28}

Side 2

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zeitmasse {13:07}

(1)

Elektronische Musik

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Elektronische Musik 1952-1960

* originally posted on March 13, 2007

This recording includes groundbreaking pieces by one of the most important figures in 20th century music. Included are the essential "Gesang der Junglinge" and "Kontakte" (the purely electronic piece). "Kontakte" is in 25 separate tracks although it may be better for it to be in one track as it could be a minor annoyance when the track ends and the next one starts. But "Kontakte" is a tour-de-force that I am grateful that it is present. Below is a brief bio of Stockhausen including an interesting bit of trivia.

" Stockhausen was born in 1928 near Cologne. Orphaned as a teen, he immersed himself in artistic pursuits and showed promise both as a writer and a musician. He took classes at the new music school in Darmstadt with Adorno before moving to Paris, where he studied with Messiaen and met Boulez and Pierre Schaeffer. These encounters, as well as studies in phonetics and communication, proved a crucial influence on his subsequent work at the electronic music studio in Cologne; by the mid-'50s he had secured a spot in the vanguard of both electronic music and integral serialism. During the next decade he forged relationships with some of the most prominent contemporaries, including Kagel, Ligeti, and Cage, and, taking over the reins at the Darmstadt school, mentored such innovative up-and-comers as Cornelius Cardew and La Monte Young. His influence extended into popular culture, as well: he appears on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album. Stockhausen held various appointments during the rest of the twentieth century, and continued teaching summer seminars attended by important emerging composers. Stockhausen's most influential compositions vary widely in their style and media, and attest to the composer's far-ranging interests in science, technology, religion, cosmology, and mysticism. His various instrumental and vocal works from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s explore various ways of extrapolating serial methods and mathematical structures, such as the Fibonacci series, to dictate pitches, rhythms, articulations, and larger formal structures. The influential tape piece Gesang der Jünglinge (1955) combines the jumbled phonemes from a Biblical source text with an elaborately methodic splicing scheme. Hymnen (1966) mixes various national anthems with complex electronic sound structures. In Stimmung (1968), a group of singers intones various mystical names to the harmony of the overtone series. From the late '70s onward, Stockhausen's efforts focused on LICHT, a sprawling opera cycle drawn from various religious mythologies, particularly the Urantia Book, a collection of writings supposedly delivered to Earth by extraterrestrials." (All Music Guide)

Tracklisting:

1. Etude {3:35}

2. Studie I {10:00}

3. Studie II {3:50}

4. Gesang der Junglinge {13:40}

5. Kontakte: Struktur I {2:21}

6. Kontakte: Struktur II {1:05}

7. Kontakte: Struktur III {3:55}

8. Kontakte: Struktur IV {0:48}

9. Kontakte: Struktur V {2:28}

10. Kontakte: Struktur VI {0:27}

11. Kontakte: Struktur VII {2:05}

12. Kontakte: Struktur VIII {1:33}

13. Kontakte: Struktur IX {2:30}

14. Kontakte: Struktur X {4:29}

15. Kontakte: Struktur XI {2:17}

16. Kontakte: Struktur XII {1:22}

17. Kontakte: Struktur XIII A {1:23}

18. Kontakte: Struktur XIII B {0:25}

19. Kontakte: Struktur XIII C {0:47}

20. Kontakte: Struktur XIII D {0:50}

21. Kontakte: Struktur XIII E {0:14}

22. Kontakte: Struktur XIII F {2:09}

23. Kontakte: Struktur XIV {0:29}

24. Kontakte: Struktur XV {0:43}

25. Kontakte: Struktur XVI A {0:35}

26. Kontakte: Struktur XVI B {0:04}

27. Kontakte: Struktur XVI C {0:16}

28. Kontakte: Struktur XVI D {0:10}

29. Kontakte: Struktur XVI E {1:52}

(1) (2) [doubtful this will be reposted] [I don't think the links in the comments work either.]