Stockhausen's Spaceship

[EigenUser]

This is what I imagine a Stockhausen concert would look like. The audience members desperately trying to escape. Of course, this is before the Stockhausen Syndrome sets in...

(sorry, I had to)

[James]

A Close Encounter with Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang

Wednesday 23 March, 2016
6:30pm, $0

Goethe-Institut New York
30 Irving Place

Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang cycle will receive its US premiere at The Met in a marathon production spread over two days and the museum's three campuses. Stockhausen began work on Klang after completing his massive Licht cycle of seven operas. The 21 pieces of Klang feature dozens of performers in music that ranges from Stockhausen's trademark spatial electronic wizardry to intimate chamber music.

At the Goethe-Institut on March 23, three artists from the production will discuss the music of Klang as well as Stockhausen's career and working methods. Marco Blaauw and Christine Chapman of Cologne-based Ensemble Musikfabrik both worked with Stockhausen and will speak about what it was like to collaborate with one of the most important composers of the 20th century. The musical director of Klang Joseph Drew (Analog Arts) will talk about the staggering range of the cycle and the challenges of bringing it to New York City.

Karlheinz Stockhausen's KLANG will be performed at The Met 5th Avenue, Breuer, and Cloisters on March 25 and 26. Please check the museum's website for more information.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang cycle will receive its US premiere at The Met in a marathon production spread over two days and the museum's three campuses.[/font]

I will try to hear at least some of these pieces at each of the three "campuses." The schedule makes it literally impossible to hear everything, even if one had the stamina and time to do so. But I'll hit the Breuer Friday evening, followed by a walk to the main building on 5th Avenue; then Saturday I'll start at the Cloisters and head back to 5th Avenue for a few more klangs. Anyone else going?

[James]

[James]

I will try to hear at least some of these pieces at each of the three "campuses." The schedule makes it literally impossible to hear everything, even if one had the stamina and time to do so. But I'll hit the Breuer Friday evening, followed by a walk to the main building on 5th Avenue; then Saturday I'll start at the Cloisters and head back to 5th Avenue for a few more klangs. Anyone else going?

Well .. how'd it go?

[(poco) Sforzando]

Well .. how'd it go?

Here's the NY Times. My thoughts tomorrow:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/arts/music/karlheinz-stockhausens-klang-an-epic-cycle-at-3-met-museums.html

[James]

Here's the NY Times. My thoughts tomorrow:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/arts/music/karlheinz-stockhausens-klang-an-epic-cycle-at-3-met-museums.html

A lot of the cycle is loop-layers/variations/re-arrangements of musical material of certain hours (the whole cycle is supposedly on the Gruppen 24 note, all interval series); Hours 6 thru 12, children of Hour 5. And 14 thru 21 ,children of Hour 13. "Sub-cycles" to be fancy. If was able to go to an event like this I'd try to hit 1 thru 5 in their entirety (not staying for all of Hour 3 in 1 sitting!),  moving on and venturing thru as many venues/rooms as possible containing 6 thru 12, for brief periods (5-10 minutes), not their entirety ..  experiencing the entire Hour 13 (Cosmic Pulses), and then quickly venturing thru as many venues/rooms as possible containing 14 thru 21, for brief periods (5-10 minutes), not their entirety. It wasn't made to be heard all in 1 go (that's ridiculous, total overkill), it's a concurrent work, with the totality of it unified.

[James]

A 21-Hour Day of Unfinished, Impossible Music: Stockhausen's Klang
By Justin Davidson


Stuart Gerber, performing Stockhausen's Klang. Photo: Paula Lobo/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Some iconoclastic artists eventually adapt to the system; others defy it; still others ignore it completely. Karlheinz Stockhausen was the rare composer who made institutions contort to fit his imagination. His music demanded miles of cable, acres of space, custom electronic instruments, and, in one case, a caged wild bird. He found governments and presenters happy to provide them all. His seven-opera cycle Licht involves placing multiple orchestras and choirs in different halls. The Cologne Opera built two theaters inside an exhibition hall. A string quartet in a helicopter? Done.

http://www.vulture.com/2016/03/unfinished-impossible-music-stockhausens-klang.html#

[(poco) Sforzando]

A lot of the cycle is loop-layers/variations/re-arrangements of musical material of certain hours (the whole cycle is supposedly on the Gruppen 24 note, all interval series); Hours 6 thru 12, children of Hour 5. And 14 thru 21 ,children of Hour 13. "Sub-cycles" to be fancy. If was able to go to an event like this I'd try to hit 1 thru 5 in their entirety (not staying for all of Hour 3 in 1 sitting!),  moving on and venturing thru as many venues/rooms as possible containing 6 thru 12, for brief periods (5-10 minutes), not their entirety ..  experiencing the entire Hour 13 (Cosmic Pulses), and then quickly venturing thru as many venues/rooms as possible containing 14 thru 21, for brief periods (5-10 minutes), not their entirety. It wasn't made to be heard all in 1 go (that's ridiculous, total overkill), it's a concurrent work, with the totality of it unified.

First, had I seen this little guide before I headed off to the Met on Friday, I might have planned my odyssey a bit better; on the other hand, given how this mini-festival was organized and the logistical difficulties navigating the three museums, I doubt I could have made much use of the information. As the newspaper reports indicate, the performance was intended to inaugurate the re-opening of the Breuer building on Madison and 75th, former home to the Whitney Museum, while the Whitney itself has built a new and very impressive structure downtown near the Hudson River a few blocks below 14th Street. And if you look at the schedule, there's no apparent reason why certain pieces were being performed at which times and at which locations, nor why some pieces were repeated multiple times and others played just once. On top of that, even the most intrepid Stockhausenite could not have physically managed to get to everything, especially someone like myself who lives about 50 miles from the city.

My plan was to start at the Breuer at 5pm on Friday, then move over to the main museum on 5th Avenue at 82nd Street; then on Saturday I'd start at the Cloisters, about 8 miles uptown at the northern tip of Manhattan and return to 5th Avenue. And this I did, though given the logistics of getting around which I need not get into detail here, I managed to hear only 8 of the 21 pieces, and not all of them complete. As James correctly implies, there is no need to hear all the pieces in their entirety, since many are composed of groups of "moments" that lack a sense of overall momentum or structure. Hence hearing 15 minutes of a 40-minute piece is probably sufficient, and only two of the works I heard seemed to have a noticeable "form."

Friday started with #20, Edentia for soprano saxophone and tape, an exciting 20-minute piece where the saxophonist is bombarded on all sides by electronic tracks which I later learned were taken from Cosmic Pulses, #13. Each piece from Klang is supposed to have a related color; this one has magenta, and though I didn't see these colors applied consistently, the performer had a bright magenta shirt jacket (unfortunately I failed to get a picture). This was followed by #8, Glück (Bliss) for oboe, EH, and bassoon. Here I started to hear how Stockhausen's style had progressed beyond his early period to encompass elements of romanticism and minimalism; I even heard a distinct major third at one point. But as the piece was 40 minutes long and the wind tones were fatiguing, I left the Breuer to get a quick bite and head to the main branch. You can see some of the color, yellow-green, in the players' clothing and especially the bassoonist's wild socks. This was probably the least interesting of the pieces I heard.

Up to the 5th Avenue museum, where I heard part of #10, Glanz (Brilliance), color sulphur green though I didn't see it, where violin, clarinet, and bassoon on stage were contrasted by oboe, trumpet, trombone, and tuba apparently situated in the upper balcony. Interesting tone colors, but already I'm starting to hear a sameness in the works despite the change of instrumentation: lots of trills, ostinati, perpetuum mobile, that I would not have expected from the Stockhausen of Gruppen and Carré. I might have stayed longer, but I wanted to get an early train home.

On Saturday I drove up to the Cloisters, the Met's medieval branch and one of NYC's truly magical spots, arriving a few minutes past the start of #1, Himmelfahrt (Ascension) for organ, soprano, and tenor (color, not discernable, was violet-blue). Most notable here were the highly dissonant clusters on the organ, accompanied by various percussion including three makeshift gongs, and the interjections from the vocalists. Here let me state that in several of the pieces, the instrumentalists break into speech at various points; here they sing. It's a long piece, but intense and expressive, and it suited the nature of the Cloister's Romanesque Fuentidueña Chapel. After this a string trio played #9, Hoffnung (Hope), a lengthy meditative piece whose yellow-green color was not in evidence either. We next moved to the acoustically marvelous Pontaut Chapter House for #6, Schönheit (Beauty) for flute, bass clarinet, and trumpet. Here the specified color is blue-green, but the hall was illuminated in something more like magenta.

Back to 5th Avenue, lunch at the Met cafeteria (which seems to be getting worse each visit), and then a walk to the Rogers Auditorium for the two pieces that Justin Davidson calls "essential," and which proved to be the most impressive parts I heard of the cycle. #4, Himmels-Tür (supposed color bright blue), is for solo percussionist who plays all kinds of intricate patterns with wooden beaters on a wooden gate divided into twelve sections, apparently each made of a different kind of wood which made for an extraordinary variety of tone colors. Amazingly, the soloist played from memory (it really could not have been otherwise), and this alone of the pieces demonstrated some kind of narrative, the soloist apparently representing a soul beating at the gates of heaven for entry. The gate is practical, and when it opens the timbres change to cymbals, gongs, and a siren heard from backstage. At the very end a little girl walks up on stage from the audience and through the gate; who she is I can't be certain, but she got a big round of applause.

Immediately after was the all-electronic #13, Cosmic Pulses, supposed color yellow. Eight loudspeakers were positioned around the hall and the effect was often thrilling, a kind of massive perpetuum mobile. This piece was programmed 8-9 times over the two days, so it was clearly the one the producers wanted people most to hear; even so the work was very sparsely attended the time I heard it.

It was getting close to 4pm by this point and I could have gone back to Breuer for a few more pieces, but I had heard enough to satisfy me and I wanted to start for home. I'll edit this post to include a few pictures, but they're still on my phone and I have to offload them.

[James]

First, had I seen this little guide before I headed off to the Met on Friday, I might have planned my odyssey a bit better; on the other hand, given how this mini-festival was organized and the logistical difficulties navigating the three museums, I doubt I could have made much use of the information. As the newspaper reports indicate, the performance was intended to inaugurate the re-opening of the Breuer building on Madison and 75th, former home to the Whitney Museum, while the Whitney itself has built a new and very impressive structure downtown near the Hudson River a few blocks below 14th Street. And if you look at the schedule, there's no apparent reason why certain pieces were being performed at which times and at which locations, nor why some pieces were repeated multiple times and others played just once. On top of that, even the most intrepid Stockhausenite could not have physically managed to get to everything, especially someone like myself who lives about 50 miles from the city.

My plan was to start at the Breuer at 5pm on Friday, then move over to the main museum on 5th Avenue at 82nd Street; then on Saturday I'd start at the Cloisters, about 8 miles uptown at the northern tip of Manhattan and return to 5th Avenue. And this I did, though given the logistics of getting around which I need not get into detail here, I managed to hear only 8 of the 21 pieces, and not all of them complete. As James correctly implies, there is no need to hear all the pieces in their entirety, since many are composed of groups of "moments" that lack a sense of overall momentum or structure. Hence hearing 15 minutes of a 40-minute piece is probably sufficient, and only two of the works I heard seemed to have a noticeable "form."

Friday started with #20, Edentia for soprano saxophone and tape, an exciting 20-minute piece where the saxophonist is bombarded on all sides by electronic tracks which I later learned were taken from Cosmic Pulses, #13. Each piece from Klang is supposed to have a related color; this one has magenta, and though I didn't see these colors applied consistently, the performer had a bright magenta shirt jacket (unfortunately I failed to get a picture). This was followed by #8, Glück (Bliss) for oboe, EH, and bassoon. Here I started to hear how Stockhausen's style had progressed beyond his early period to encompass elements of romanticism and minimalism; I even heard a distinct major third at one point. But as the piece was 40 minutes long and the wind tones were fatiguing, I left the Breuer to get a quick bite and head to the main branch. You can see some of the color, yellow-green, in the players' clothing and especially the bassoonist's wild socks. This was probably the least interesting of the pieces I heard.

Up to the 5th Avenue museum, where I heard part of #10, Glanz (Brilliance), color sulphur green though I didn't see it, where violin, clarinet, and bassoon on stage were contrasted by oboe, trumpet, trombone, and tuba apparently situated in the upper balcony. Interesting tone colors, but already I'm starting to hear a sameness in the works despite the change of instrumentation: lots of trills, ostinati, perpetuum mobile, that I would not have expected from the Stockhausen of Gruppen and Carré. I might have stayed longer, but I wanted to get an early train home.

On Saturday I drove up to the Cloisters, the Met's medieval branch and one of NYC's truly magical spots, arriving a few minutes past the start of #1, Himmelfahrt (Ascension) for organ, soprano, and tenor (color, not discernable, was violet-blue). Most notable here were the highly dissonant clusters on the organ, accompanied by various percussion including three makeshift gongs, and the interjections from the vocalists. Here let me state that in several of the pieces, the instrumentalists break into speech at various points; here they sing. It's a long piece, but intense and expressive, and it suited the nature of the Cloister's Romanesque Fuentidueña Chapel. After this a string trio played #9, Hoffnung (Hope), a lengthy meditative piece whose yellow-green color was not in evidence either. We next moved to the acoustically marvelous Pontaut Chapter House for #6, Schönheit (Beauty) for flute, bass clarinet, and trumpet. Here the specified color is blue-green, but the hall was illuminated in something more like magenta.

Back to 5th Avenue, lunch at the Met cafeteria (which seems to be getting worse each visit), and then a walk to the Rogers Auditorium for the two pieces that Justin Davidson calls "essential," and which proved to be the most impressive parts I heard of the cycle. #4, Himmels-Tür (supposed color bright blue), is for solo percussionist who plays all kinds of intricate patterns with wooden beaters on a wooden gate divided into twelve sections, apparently each made of a different kind of wood which made for an extraordinary variety of tone colors. Amazingly, the soloist played from memory (it really could not have been otherwise), and this alone of the pieces demonstrated some kind of narrative, the soloist apparently representing a soul beating at the gates of heaven for entry. The gate is practical, and when it opens the timbres change to cymbals, gongs, and a siren heard from backstage. At the very end a little girl walks up on stage from the audience and through the gate; who she is I can't be certain, but she got a big round of applause.

Immediately after was the all-electronic #13, Cosmic Pulses, supposed color yellow. Eight loudspeakers were positioned around the hall and the effect was often thrilling, a kind of massive perpetuum mobile. This piece was programmed 8-9 times over the two days, so it was clearly the one the producers wanted people most to hear; even so the work was very sparsely attended the time I heard it.

It was getting close to 4pm by this point and I could have gone back to Breuer for a few more pieces, but I had heard enough to satisfy me and I wanted to start for home. I'll edit this post to include a few pictures, but they're still on my phone and I have to offload them.

Nice write up & thanks for sharing. These logistics seemed rough, still 8 out of the 21 is more than enough music for an event if you think about it .. if they do it again someday you can take-in different ones, take a different path ..

Having absorbed this cycle for years now on the fine SV discs, the majority of pieces have an overall meditative/tranquil/spiritual quality to them. Yet they are relatively joyful, light, playful with tiny dashes of humor too. The later electronic pieces have a bit more gusto to them for obvious reasons.

Stockhausen envisioned the entire piece being performed concurrently within a large complex where the public could simply walk in and venture from room to room (any one they'd like, no set path) listening to pieces of the cycle going on .. they could stay and hear all of 1, sample as many as they'd like, go back etc. etc. ... something to this effect. Seems on your path you managed to get some of the good ones in there.

For those interested wiki has a pretty good pg on it ..  Klang (Stockhausen)

[(poco) Sforzando]

Stockhausen envisioned the entire piece being performed concurrently within a large complex where the public could simply walk in and venture from room to room (any one they'd like, no set path) listening to pieces of the cycle going on .. they could stay and hear all of 1, sample as many as they'd like, go back etc. etc. ... something to this effect. Seems on your path you managed to get some of the good ones in there.

The audience was allowed to come and go as they pleased, and in fact some of the pieces were done in various halls at the main branch, such as the Medieval Sculpture Hall, the Engelhard Court, and the Arms and Armor Hall. I missed all of these. (Brian, if he tunes in to this discussion, will remember all these spots from our tour a couple of months ago.) But the main branch itself would have been an ideal location for the concurrent performance you describe. There are any number of large halls at the Met that could accommodate musicians, like the Greek + Roman, the Spanish Patio, and the Chinese Scholar's Garden. Of course the museum's intent was to use all three branches, and performing the same piece all day long would be a stretch on the musicians. Not to mention how beautifully the instruments sounded up at the Cloisters.

[bhodges]

Very comprehensive comments. Makes me wish I had been able to go to some of it, but by the time I found out, the weekend had already been (over) planned.

--Bruce

[(poco) Sforzando]

Very comprehensive comments. Makes me wish I had been able to go to some of it, but by the time I found out, the weekend had already been (over) planned.

--Bruce

Mine too. I got to De Materie on Tuesday, went to a musical (Godspell) on Thursday because a kid I know was in it, and saw John Patrick Shanley's new play (with Timothee Chalamet and Robert Sean Leonard) yesterday. I've been exhausted all day.

Oddly enough (or perhaps not), the Andriessen (at least as produced at the Park Avenue Armory) had more in common with Stockhausen than I would have expected. The composer of the Helicopter Quartet could have easily envisioned three dirigibles floating above his stage, not to mention all those sheep. I'm not sure there was much to interest me in the music, but I loved the sheep.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Pictures from my trip. Please let me know if you can see these; I can't get them to display within the image link. Unfortunately the bassoonist's socks didn't show up in the picture.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hzcn31dewn3iva/Cosmic%20Pulses%20console.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/08tsuzyl5dp4jlz/Glanz.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cysvy2dlo1vz78s/Gl%C3%BCck%20with%20green%20blouse.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8pb6wb0i3849k85/Himmelfahrt.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7vdnnbotuu3zda/Himmels-T%C3%BCr%201%20beating%20on%20gate.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ux8ta9d0orrqutm/Himmels-T%C3%BCr%202%20gate%20opens.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j4jgcahuhw1jirl/Himmels-T%C3%BCr%203%20ain%27t%20she%20great.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/58ph5vngzzg6x1i/Sch%C3%B6nheit%201%20now%20you%20can%27t%20see%20the%20flute.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wdj3gv2t8z6kwgl/Sch%C3%B6nheit%202%20now%20you%20can.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nsd3ebrw26aa1w/Sch%C3%B6nheit%203%20magenta.jpg?dl=0

[James]

I can see them .. with the exception of Heaven's Door, there isn't really anything theatrical about this music. Sure, players are asked to wear certain colors, and they are used to convey a certain feel/atmosphere from a performance stand point (Wilhelm Ostwald's colour cycle to get 24 hues) .. but its about the music above all else .. which is quite distilled, especially compared to LICHT. The first hour is one of my favorites on CD .. you heard a version with organ (as opposed to synthesizer as on the CD), nice venue pictured below .. perfect!



This too .. beautiful.



My favorite piece of the cycle is the 2nd hour for 2 singing harpists. Quite magical. Great CD.

And winds are my favorite instruments, so all those hours really translate well on CD too.

Heaven's Door & the spatial electronic pieces (esp. Hr. 13) obviously benefit from the visual or appropriate sound set-up.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I can see them .. with the exception of Heaven's Door, there isn't really anything theatrical about this music. Sure, players are asked to wear certain colors, and they are used to convey a certain feel/atmosphere from a performance stand point (Wilhelm Ostwald's colour cycle to get 24 hues) .. but its about the music above all else .. which is quite distilled, especially compared to LICHT. The first hour is one of my favorites on CD .. you heard a version with organ (as opposed to synthesizer as on the CD), nice venue pictured below .. perfect!



This too .. beautiful.



My favorite piece of the cycle is the 2nd hour for 2 singing harpists. Quite magical. Great CD.

And winds are my favorite instruments, so all those hours really translate well on CD too.

Heaven's Door & the spatial electronic pieces (esp. Hr. 13) obviously benefit from the visual or appropriate sound set-up.

I'm at a loss to understand why the images show up on your post in my home computer, but on my laptop they appear only as little boxes. Is it that the Image command works only if the image is a separate URL? Be that as it may, the venue here is the Cloisters in uptown Manhattan, the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is in one of the city's parks and where you feel miles away from the congestion of midtown. It's a beautiful place to visit, especially on a Sunday morning in summer, and I try to get there once every couple of years.

[James]

I'm at a loss to understand why the images show up on your post in my home computer, but on my laptop they appear only as little boxes. Is it that the Image command works only if the image is a separate URL? Be that as it may, the venue here is the Cloisters in uptown Manhattan, the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is in one of the city's parks and where you feel miles away from the congestion of midtown. It's a beautiful place to visit, especially on a Sunday morning in summer, and I try to get there once every couple of years.

I simply copied the image link and put it within the image tags, altered the size .. but the Cloisters is very beautiful, lovely design with the stone, religious iconography, wonderful arches, lighting etc .. and suites the mood of many of these pieces ..

[Mandryka]

Here's Pollini playing Klavierstuck 10, the one that David Tudor refused to play (why?) I have yet to heat Rzewski play it.

https://www.youtube.com/v/qfRlVvqBfYA

[snyprrr]

Well, my endless search for sooomething has led me to KHS's...

I've been listening to some 'Klang' clips... like 'Hope',... huh, late KHS sounds a bit like Goeyvaarts to me. I also like 'Awakening' and 'Balance'. And, out of the 'Natural Durations' there were a few interesting clips; I especially liked the cascading No.6.

BUT

None of this is "readily" available. Why doesn't any group do these pieces? CPO? KAIROS? NEOS? They all let the Verlag do it all?




And from the old stuff I still want 'Ylem' and 'Inori'... also not "readily" available....




So, still, KHS remains outside of my perview... a lot of the 'Klang', though, I found like 21st century Bach... the String Trio... there was a lot of actual music making happening, but it didn't give me Avant tingles... I do appreciate his achievement here, but I just don't see me having the $$$ to do ANYTHING with KHS.


Ahhh, such problems...

[nathanb]

Well, my endless search for sooomething has led me to KHS's...

I've been listening to some 'Klang' clips... like 'Hope',... huh, late KHS sounds a bit like Goeyvaarts to me. I also like 'Awakening' and 'Balance'. And, out of the 'Natural Durations' there were a few interesting clips; I especially liked the cascading No.6.

BUT

None of this is "readily" available. Why doesn't any group do these pieces? CPO? KAIROS? NEOS? They all let the Verlag do it all?




And from the old stuff I still want 'Ylem' and 'Inori'... also not "readily" available....




So, still, KHS remains outside of my perview... a lot of the 'Klang', though, I found like 21st century Bach... the String Trio... there was a lot of actual music making happening, but it didn't give me Avant tingles... I do appreciate his achievement here, but I just don't see me having the $$$ to do ANYTHING with KHS.


Ahhh, such problems...

I've bought a lot of alternate versions of Stockhausen works, but for the Verlag, I have to stick with the downloads for now. I've got most of the Stockhausen Editions on my iPod though. To be precise...

Editions Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74, 76, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102

...are the ones I've at least managed to find for download.