Stockhausen's Spaceship

[Uatu]

A while back I mentioned that OKTOPHONIE also used the EMS Synthi 100, but after actually taking a closer look at the score it looks like I was a bit off there:

The timbres in OKTOPHONIE were initially created with several synthesizers:

    2 Yamaha DX 7 II-FD
    2 Casio FZ-1 (samplers)
    Roland D-50 (with Musictronics expansion)
    Oberheim Matrix-1000 synth module

These sounds were enhanced with several effects processors: Art Proverb, Roland SDE 200 reverb, SVC 350 Vocoder (and one brief 5 minute sound at the beginning of FAREWELL filtered with the EMS Synthi 100, which was also used in SIRIUS).

I'm going to spend some time to redo my post on OKTOPHONIE and try to make it a bit more specific...

[Uatu]

The ultimate Stockhausen "sounds in space" work: 29 groups of soloists and 2 mobile vocalists.

LICHTER–WASSER (SONNTAGS-GRUSS)
(LIGHT WATERS/SUNDAY GREETING)
for soprano, tenor, and orchestra (29 instruments) with synthesizer
1st Scene of SONNTAG AUS LICHT (SUNDAY from LIGHT)
1998-99 [51']

http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/lichterwasser.html



Also: a new more detailed look at OKTOPHONIE...
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/oktophonie.html

[Uatu]

They're doing the 8-channel playback at the Stockhausen courses this year, so I'm excited about that, but I'd of course prefer to see it live.

[Uatu]

Thanks James!  I'm still kicking myself for not seeing the NY performance a couple years ago.  I hope they do it again in the next few years...

[Cato]

GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE (Song of the Youths)

     GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE, despite its relative brevity, is a masterpiece.  In just 13 minutes it sonically portrays a dialogue between humanity, technology and God.  This theme has since been re-used since 1957 by other composers, but I think in almost 50 years it has never been so economical or "soulful".  At the same time, the work can also be experienced as a multi-tiered aural landscape, with the boy's voice as sometimes in the foreground, and the electronics as background - or vice-versa.

     Another interesting thing is that even though the speech elements were initially organized serially to create an even distribution of attributes, if one has familiarity with the text (and many Germans at that time did), this familiarity actually creates a "lumpy" texture rather than the classic static ("flat") texture of many serially-organized works.  I think for this reason among others, GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE has been enjoyed by the general public more than many other post-war serial works.

The increasing religious apathy today, bringing with it increasing unfamiliarity with the Bible, might hinder such an effect today.  But I believe you are quite right: if one catches a fragment of the text  (e.g. den Herrn (the Lord), the mind would probably/possibly think of preiset (praise), not unlike the way the eye "completes" a pointillist painting.

[Uatu]

Good point!  At the same time if this piece were originally titled "Praise to God" instead of "Song of the Youths" - or for English speakers "Gesang der Junglinge" - I wonder how well it would have gone over. 

[Uatu]

In 1966, Stockhausen mixed electronic music with folk music samples - awesome good stuff.  Definitely one of my top 10.

TELEMUSIK (Electronic Music)
1966 (17'30")
Post here:
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/telemusik.html


     TELEMUSIK is without doubt one of my favorite Stockhausen works.  The melding of synthetic tones with "ancient music" is an amazingly successful one, even without the ring-modulation as "lubricant".  It's no surprise that many in the avant-garde crowd are also fans of "early music" - both are somewhat beyond our general listening experiences that they might as well come from other planets.  The ritual music of Asia is especially appropriate since it's form mostly stays away from western classical "tonic-dominant" cadences and homophonic textures.  In general, they're somewhat more modal in tonality and use heterophony as the main form structure.  This actually has a very similar flavor to the manipulation of sine-wave bandwidth tones.  Having said that, the ritual music is very modulated, so that on initial listens I didn't even know most of the time what was synthetic and what was "found sound".  After spending some time exploring world music, these fragments are much more recognizable, and at that point Stockhausen's quote about finding an "apple on the moon" becomes much more appropriate.  Another thing that strikes me as fascinating is that the "high band" layer of the RM'ed world music still has every element of the original but in a parallel "higher sphere".  Like YLEM, this brings to mind the modern cosmological theory of "stacked" parallel universes.

     It's interesting to compare this with Stockhausen's previous ring-modulation work, MIXTUR.  There, Stockhausen processed melodic and rhythmic fragments and textures, so that the RM effect is audible when an instrument is playing.  In TELEMUSIK, the samples are all rhythmic (steady and periodic) and have a generally even density.  In this way, instead of creating a melodic figure with a trombone solo, faders and "solo" buttons are used to "play" isolated bits of the prerecorded music (for example, in Structure 1 channel III and IV).

     The score is absolutely fascinating to study.  Stockhausen  does everything he can to provide instructions on how to create TELEMUSIK on one's own.  The step-by-step instructions and photographs of the equipment used give a rare look at exactly how electronic music was created in the mid-1960s (at least by Stockhausen).  The copy at my local library was only in German, but the thick Stockhausen Edition CD booklet gives enough information that it's basically decipherable to an English speaker.  The Text CD with Stockhausen's lecture on TELEMUZIK and extended samples of the world music he used also includes a newly remastered transfer of TELEMUZIK from the original stereo mixdown.

[Rex]

This is a great resource you are building up here Uatu!! My thanks for the work you are doing. What a great adventure of discovery it must be. It inspires me to want to devote significant time to exploring Stockhausen's work in similar detail.

Telemusik is one of my favourite Stockhausen works too. I've just listened to it again and enjoyed being reminded how beautiful it is.

A question to you or James or anyone who may know: Has there ever been a recording (or broadcast) of the original Der Jahreslauf with Gagaku orchestra, perhaps from the performance at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo last year? That is something I would love to hear.

[Uatu]

This is a great resource you are building up here Uatu!! My thanks for the work you are doing. What a great adventure of discovery it must be. It inspires me to want to devote significant time to exploring Stockhausen's work in similar detail.

Telemusik is one of my favourite Stockhausen works too. I've just listened to it again and enjoyed being reminded how beautiful it is.

A question to you or James or anyone who may know: Has there ever been a recording (or broadcast) of the original Der Jahreslauf with Gagaku orchestra, perhaps from the performance at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo last year? That is something I would love to hear.

Hi Rex - thanks for the kind words.  The blog is real work to research and assemble, but the great thing about Stockhausen is that there's always something new around every corner.  Writing these posts gives me a great opportunity to do just what you indicated, explore the works in detail. 

As far as Der Jahreslauf, Kathinka of Stockhausen Siftung (and seemingly main organizer these days) told me it wasn't recorded (at least for release by her).  In general, Stockhausen Verlag only records in the studio, though there have been a few live exceptions.  It's a pity tho, since I would have loved to hear it too.  It's possibly thatt someone may have recorded it "independently" but I haven't seen that surface so far. 

[Rex]

Thanks for your replies James and Uatu.

It seems a pity that a recording hasn't been made of the Imperial Gagaku Orchestra playing Hiriki / Der Jahreslauf. I think that it would be powerful, not so much because of the timbral differences of Gagaku, but because there is a tension in gagaku performance (like a tightly wound spring slowly releasing its energy) that is not matched by the 2 performances of Der Jahreslauf I know (the original recording and Act I of Dienstag).

I find this tension evident in Telemusik, and imagine that it would contribute to a different experience of Der Jahreslauf. Interestingly the guitar and saxophone used in the 'western' version are 2 instruments that represent the very opposite of the constraint of gagaku performance in the west (as used in rock and jazz).

Der Jahreslauf played by a gagaku ensemble is also particularly enticing because it is a meeting between one of the most traditional and rigid musical traditions in the world, very much of the past, and probably the most visionary composer of our times, very much forging a way into the future.

To extrapolate from a comment from ipar1306 recently in the Stockhausen forum that he likes to think of Dienstag being the beginning of the Licht cycle, I can imagine a Gagaku performance of Hiriki, followed by the 'western' Der Jahreslauf (a day later perhaps) would make a great introduction to Dienstag and the beginning of Licht. A kernel of potential followed by an expansion, giving rise to the great cycle of Licht. [Forgive me for indulging in a little rave].

By the way, my comments are not any implied criticism of the available performances of Der Jahreslauf - I love them both. I just find the potential differences intriguing.

[Uatu]

Thanks for your replies James and Uatu.

It seems a pity that a recording hasn't been made of the Imperial Gagaku Orchestra playing Hiriki / Der Jahreslauf. I think that it would be powerful, not so much because of the timbral differences of Gagaku, but because there is a tension in gagaku performance (like a tightly wound spring slowly releasing its energy) that is not matched by the 2 performances of Der Jahreslauf I know (the original recording and Act I of Dienstag).

I find this tension evident in Telemusik, and imagine that it would contribute to a different experience of Der Jahreslauf. Interestingly the guitar and saxophone used in the 'western' version are 2 instruments that represent the very opposite of the constraint of gagaku performance in the west (as used in rock and jazz).

Der Jahreslauf played by a gagaku ensemble is also particularly enticing because it is a meeting between one of the most traditional and rigid musical traditions in the world, very much of the past, and probably the most visionary composer of our times, very much forging a way into the future.

To extrapolate from a comment from ipar1306 recently in the Stockhausen forum that he likes to think of Dienstag being the beginning of the Licht cycle, I can imagine a Gagaku performance of Hiriki, followed by the 'western' Der Jahreslauf (a day later perhaps) would make a great introduction to Dienstag and the beginning of Licht. A kernel of potential followed by an expansion, giving rise to the great cycle of Licht. [Forgive me for indulging in a little rave].

By the way, my comments are not any implied criticism of the available performances of Der Jahreslauf - I love them both. I just find the potential differences intriguing.

Some good thoughts here Rex, yeah I totally agree.  Actually I never thought of guitar and sax as being an opposing tradition to gagaku style performance, but I see that point.  At the same time however, one thing that guitar and sax do have in common with asian music (tho not gagaku specifically I think) is that there is a certain level of improvisation involved with both.   Eastern music is far more rigid of course, but the heterophonic nature of it all is probably closer in spirit to jazz than Western classical is. 

Actually Kathinka mentioned last year that it would be cool to have Der Jahreslauf here in NY.  If that were to happen, it would be great if the Asia Society could organize a gagaku version (they just did a contemporary asian music festival here recently).

BTW right now I'm working on TRANS and I'm finding alot of similarities to DER JAHRESLAUF in the formal design.  I'll have to update my JAHRESLAUF post after that's done!

[Uatu]

This looks good.  Paul Miller's thesis on Oktophonie is great, would like to meet him.  May try to make this.

http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2014/06/opus-32-mantra.html

[Uatu]

Explaining TRANS is like describing a David Lynch film ala Eraserhead.  But I gave it a shot.  Lots of great ideas here and some funny solos.

TRANS, for orchestra and taped weaving loom sounds - 1971
     TRANS was one of the first Stockhausen pieces I ever heard on the radio and even though I found it very odd and alien, I still was very curious about it.  After reading the scant information about TRANS available at the time, I was under the wrong impression that some kind of giant wooden box was swinging back and forth over the audience and making the loom shuttle sounds.  The reality was of course, much safer!  However it was still a very mysterious piece, and the constant wall of strings made the whole thing seem very hazy.  After giving it some more time and attention, I realized that there was actually quite alot of activity going on underneath that blanket of droney strings.

     For the audience at the premiere of TRANS, it must have been a completely puzzling experience (and the Stockhausen Edition CD includes the recording of that premiere, complete with whistles and boos).  Even watching the clips from the documentary film, one gets the feeling of cognitive dissonance: the only thing to be seen are the string players in a hazy violet fog, but a full orchestra playing dense and active figures can still be heard.  Not only that, but several times individual orchestra musicians seem to be staging some kind of open revolt against their peers.  One must have wondered if it were "real" or not.  Finally, the string players mechanically bow with blank facial expressions, as if they were just wind-up toys.  Actually, with the reddish haze, it seems a bit macabre to me.

     The solos are all excellent and exuberant, and shows that Stockhausen could write "virtuosic solo music" with ease when he wanted to.  The idea of having these bizarre skits is pretty comedic, and I think could be a predecessor to the "games" of DER JAHRESLAUF 6 years later.  The concept of the string orchestra "opening and closing" the curtain is an interesting one, but ultimately it seems to be more an organizational technique (such as using a Fibonacci series, or a formula, etc...) than a literal one, since the hidden orchestra is pretty much heard at the same level of "clarity" throughout the performance, no matter how dense the string chord cluster gets (at least to my ears).  The use of aleatory elements provides some nice "statistical" textures, though at times the figures are a bit hard to hear (intentional obfuscation?).  One thing I would be curious to hear one day would be the string orchestra and the hidden orchestra parts separate from each other.  Perhaps a new release of TRANS someday would include these isolated tracks.  Both parts are beautifully conceived and despite the novel concept of 2 forces at odds with each other, the individual parts are well worth exploring as well.

More in the blog post:
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/trans.html

[Uatu]

THEATER OF VOICES

Stockhausen's 'Stimmung'

Zankel Hall


Theater of Voices in a rare performance of Stockhausen's mystical 1968 composition
"Stimmung" on Saturday at Zankel Hall.

Stockhausen composed his sprawling vocal sextet "Stimmung" in a house overlooking the frozen Long Island Sound late in the winter of 1968. The weather then likely wasn't much different than that on Saturday evening — cold, snowy and windy — when Theater of Voices gave a rare performance of the mystical, sensual, above all warming work at Zankel Hall.

"Stimmung" is both simple and not: a continuous 72-minute set of variations on a single note, a low B-flat. Their voices curling upward with the metallic twang of throat singing, the six vocalists gradually explore the note's overtones, forming elusive, slippery chords dotted through with whispers, whistles and babble.

Excerpts from Stockhausen's erotic poetry are intoned, as are the days of the week, in both English and German. Periodically exotic words are announced: these are "magic names," drawn from lists of the gods in mythologies from around the world.

Saturday's performance brought out the humor and charm in a work that can sometimes feel forbiddingly recondite or merely meditative. Its tempo, volume and mood malleable, "Stimmung," performed here at a low table with a globe of light in the middle, has a lightness and agility of tone that rescue it from being just a dated remnant of the trippy 1960s.

The founder and director of Theater of Voices, Paul Hillier, worked with Stockhausen on this so-called "Copenhagen" version of the score, which the group recorded on Harmonia Mundi and clearly relishes. Its performance was confident and luminous, controlled yet free, both playful and solemn. ZACHARY WOOLFE

What source is this review?

[Uatu]

EVAs ERSTGEBURT (EVE's First Birth-Giving)
for 3 sopranos, 3 tenors, bass, vocal actor, choir (GEBURTS-FEST, live or tape), boys' choir, 3 synthesizers, percussion, tape (Sound Scenes), staged with 21 actresses

An under-appreciated choral masterpiece from Stockhausen's 3rd opera. Scene 4 goes from 20 bpm to 640bpm. Good exercise!
     At its core,  EVAs ERSTGEBURT is a work for voice and electronics, but it obviously has larger forces at work than say, GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE (though both are equally complex in their own way).  As the 3rd opera written using the LICHT super-formula, the formulas themselves undergo more "melodic modulation" than in the first 2 operas, which is logical since DONNERSTAG and SAMSTAG had already clearly introduced them in their original forms.  In MONTAG, the formulas seem to be more at the service of the drama than ever before, and basically provide a more subtle textural through-line on which to weave this celebration of birth.

     The opening scenes feature some very accessible choral and solo vocal writing, which might surprise people more familiar with earlier works like MIKROPHONIE I, but it isn't long before the 1st Birth Aria provides a more "thorny" showcase for soprano trio.  The tenor trio in the 2nd Birth Aria is pure fun though, and sounds like Stockhausen's version of a barbershop quartet.  Boy's Hullabaloo is a tour-de-force of rhythmic layering, both compositionally and performance-wise - very few works go from 20 bpm to 640 bpm, I think.  The vocal acrobatics of LUZIPOLYP probably have certain things in common with the genre known as sound poetry, yet Stockhausen puts his own spin on it as a double-mirror of vowels, consonants, whistling and animal noises.  Alain Louafi's performance as the singing actor is positively hilarious and in fact seems to be doing an impression of 6 or 7 celebrity actors simultaneously - a really brilliant interpretation among a fantastic cast.

     In MONTAG AUS LICHT, the libretto really begins to deviate from normal grammar (which was very much in use for DONNERSTAG, though the dialogue was sometimes "contrapuntal" at times) and begins to explore phonetically-invented (or fragmented) words.  Stockhausen also begins using (in LICHT at least) many more names from global mythology and religion, which would eventually cultivate a kind of cottage industry of analyses focused on sourcing where these proper names came from.  Despite the seriousness of a birth scenario, this Act also has some of the funniest and most satirically-pointed moments of LICHT, of which a synopsis can only just hint at.  The score is well worth studying, just for all of the "jokes".  The CD comes with a very detailed description of the opera's actions and virtually the complete libretto, yet some things he saves as a surprise (which I won't spoil here!).  Of course one hopes for a live production to really experience this funny, tragic Act of high and low humor.

Full post here:
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/evas-erstgeburt.html

[Uatu]

EVAs ZWEITGEBURT (EVE's Second Birth-Giving)
for girls' choir, piano, 7 solo boy singers, 3 basset-horns, 1 singing basset horn, choir (live or tape), 3 synthesizers, percussion, and tape (Sound Scenes), staged with 21 actresses

More beautiful, more bawdy!

      In the second Act of MONTAG AUS LICHT, a sudden return to primitivism seems to occur when the electricity goes out and the stage is lit only with candles, as a ritualistic procession moves up the aisles.  The girls' choir is yet another beautiful choral work in MONTAG, and the 3 against 4 nature of the rhythms continues a structural concept from the opposing shapes of the previous act's Boy's Hullabaloo.  The "conception" piano solo is a fine melding of unique textures, as there are not very many works for piano and children's choir.  It has some structural similarity to KLAVIERSTÜCK XIII "LUCIFER's Dream", but is much more concise and gets "down to business" so to speak. 

     WOCHENKREIS generates a new set of lively songs which I think have as much life as independent songs as TIERKREIS does away from MUSIK IM BAUCH.  The 7 songs are each lots of fun and are perfectly fit for children to sing.  INITIATION features an alluring vocal for soprano which has many fascinating colorations and is a wonderful showcase for Kathinka Pasveer's singing skills.  At this point in MONTAG, the synthesizers also take on a more prominent role, and I would someday be curious to hear some sections of EVE's Song as electronic parts separate from the opera (perhaps as study tracks for 3 keyboardists).  The interaction between the 4 incarnations of EVE as COEUR, BUSI, BUSA and MUSCHI are weaved together in a fascinating layering of wind and voice instruments.  In the final section of EVE's Song, the forces become quite entangled, but yet still imply a certain kind of harmoniousness. Just as in Act 1's First Birth-Giving, there is alot of humor laced throughout these acts, but in a somewhat more innocent, child-like way than in the earlier Act.

     The score also describes very precise hand gestures for each of the boy soloists, as well as many descriptions of color and lighting changes which unfortunately can't be experienced on an audio recording.  The stage set is also decorated with many additional glass "chemistry lab" vials and tubes, which are used to collect water from the boiling steam and use it to grow a beautiful grass lawn by the end of the Act.

Full post here:
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/evas-erstgeburt.html

[Uatu]

the piano piece (in isolation) is my favorite of the 3 licht piano-oriented compositions, wochenkreis (a fractal, cycle of songs, from the concerto for basset-horn and synths with choirs) is wonderful .. (I especially love the stripped down recorded version on the 3-disc clarinet collection, the montag album has some pretty ratty recorded synth sounds in comparison). In fact, I'd like to hear a newly recorded version of the last scene of act 2. I have the recording of Gerburts-Fest isolated. Home video releases of all LICHT operas in my life-time please?

I totally agree James, I was just listening to Suzee's disc and I really love WOCHENKREIS, too in that recording.  INITIATION really needs a new recording, Kathinkas voice is a little too low in the mix for my taste.  There are so many great vocal solos in this act...  The problem I have always had with MONTAG  is that the recording is either too dense, or could be recorded better.  It's just very hard to appreciate all the great moving parts individually.  Another candidate for a surround sound release, that would probably help....

[Uatu]

EVAs ZAUBER (EVE's Magic)
for basset horn, alto flute, piccolo flute, choir, children's choir, 3 synthesizers, percussion, and tape (Sound Scenes)

The Third Act of MONTAG AUS LICHT (MONDAY from LIGHT)  1984-1986 [57 min]

     One of the most impressive things about BOTSCHAFT is the exploration of microtonal wind textures, especially in a duet setting.  The LICHT super-formula includes some elements of microtones (specifically in the EVE formula's Saturday and Sunday limbs, bars 15 and 17) but in this final Monday Act, Stockhausen worked exhaustively with basset horn player Suzanne Stephens and flautist Kathinka Pasveer to discover new fingerings for their instruments, finding up to 26 steps within a major 3rd (further micro-intervals would be discovered for MONTAG AUS LICHT's  Greeting).  These effects give the dialogue between EVA and AVE a more vocal, lyrical feel than would otherwise be possible.  The beauty of BOTSCHAFT lies in hearing how these two single-line instruments intertwine, moving closer, then apart, and then back again.  On Stockhausen Edition CD 35, the duo version of AVE (without choir and electronics) displays this quality a bit more clearly than on the recording for the opera.  However, the choir part for AVE is pretty fantastic, and would be interesting to hear on its own as well.

     DER KINDERFÄNGER further showcases the flute family, as well as a veritable torrent of Sound Scenes (musique concrete/field recordings).  The alto flute part here is extremely vibrant and includes some brilliant vocal writing as well, which makes it a good balance to the "obscene" male vocal parts in LUZIFERs ZORN.  The breath control required for this Scene must be formidable.  The Sound Scenes here have an even more humorous tinge to them than ever before, and reflect Stockhausen's composition of "trans-real" environments - that is, situations which typically don't happen in real life and take on new meaning when juxtaposed.  Each of the elements of the Sound Scenes actually have their own trajectory in space, which makes their effect even more hallucinatory.

     ENTFÜHRUNG features the EVE Nuclear formula, probably my favorite of all of the versions of the LICHT melodies.  It's quite fitting that this melody is used to spirit away the children of EVE, since it has a very simple and catchy nature.  The theme and variation structure of ENTFÜHRUNG also makes this Scene a very accessible one, and provides a splendid showcase of piccolo flute expertise.  It's pretty easy to find oneself singing along with the children, as they disappear into the unknown...

More here:
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/03/evas-zauber.html

[Uatu]

Yeah, I agree here as well James.  DER KINDERFANGER is especially fresh since the second synth has completely different material than the original.

[EigenUser]

My thoughts on Gruppen:

I like it.

It seems that some pieces need a proper way to listen to them. When I tried following along with the score a few months ago I liked it even less than I did before that. I've been listening to it at the gym (right after Varese Ameriques) and I just take the sounds as they come without trying to analyze them. I still don't enjoy it on my speakers at home or in the car. Perhaps not a James-approved way of listening , but it's good enough for me. I think that coupling it with the Varese makes it more enjoyable, too, for some reason.