The Stockhausen Oeuvre

[Cato]

Stockhausen was both a great composer...and a terrible composer.     The greatness comes across throughout the oeuvre, from the works which established his reputation in the 1950's through the LICHT operas.  The terrible aspect comes from the growing narcissism in the composer and the slow demise of his internal voice of doubt, which editing voice was replaced by another voice encouraging him that every idea had to be used...because it was his idea!

This is why I find an increasing amount of childish, rather than childlike, things in his output: e.g. I have a videotape of Stockhausen describing the symbolism of Examen and then a performance of it (see below).  There is certainly originality in having a singer become obsessed with a musical instrument ("O Basset-horn, Basset-horn!") and in having a crew perform in a kind of Ur-Cl!ck-Language. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/fbKmF7KkB5Q

There is also originality in e.g. creating a duck with 6 six legs coming out of its spine...but why would somebody do that...except to show off how unique their vision is?

Are there better and even great things in the later works?  Sure!  But the visitor from Sirius too often hid them from our ears.

[Karl Henning]

He was the best of composers, he was the worst of composers.

[deafeninglysilent_1.61...]

Those 3 discs you have are very fine indeed. www.arkivmusic.com has the DG versions of Donnerstag & Samstag complete (currently $44.99 a piece), and one of the DG Suzanne Stephens albums ($13.99); all of these appear within the exceptional Stockhausen Verlag label but are offered for less at arkiv.

Thank you! I didn't think to check arkiv, but will do so.

[springrite]

Since I do not know his total output, I have no idea what percentage of it I have heard. I have about 8 CDs, maybe 10.

My favorites: Stimmung, Carre, Inori.

[deafeninglysilent_1.61...]

Oh and be on the look out for 2 documentaries coming soon, I've talked to the director of these and they will be getting wide release. They are on the widely acclaimed Sonntag aus LICHT & KLANG premieres. Steve Schick's MODE dvds of the Percussion Music of Stockhausen will be coming later this year too. Wergo .. has put out numerous Stockhausen albums recently, including an excellent disc of Michaels Reise, the full-blown version.  And finally, there is yet another LICHT documentary in the works of the recent Samstag aus LICHT quasi-concerts from this past June-July .. which featured absolutely wonderful performances. These are exciting times for this true creative GIANT's music, one smash hit after another  .. and they have only really begun to scratch the surface .. his work is an immense galaxy with so many layers and has so much potential to capture the imaginations and hearts of so many new generations of listeners, performers & organizers. I am sure there will be more important projects to come!

I will be on the lookout for those as well.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I think 5% would be an over-estimation, but I have heard a few of his works. Several excerpts from Licht, though not the full thing, most of the Klavierstucke, various chamber works, Stimmung, Gruppen, some electroacoustic stuff and that's about it. For such a prolific composer I feel I have barely scraped the surface. It is most unfortunate that recordings of his music are so hard for me to come buy, and when they are they're on his own label...which would mean suicide for my bank account.

[nathanb]

I don't know that anyone has heard 100% of his oeuvre unless you've been to certain key European venues. The premiere of Fresco, for instance. There's also the problem of how to treat the vast number of different arrangements Stockhausen has produced (many of which have been recorded on the most obscure discs from the composer's own label) from various layers of his compositions.

So, I'd guess I've only heard about 95%.