tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post5471456483814793625..comments2024-03-29T07:38:17.008-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: The Case of StockhausenBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-38276271517279608552014-05-29T07:43:34.422-05:002014-05-29T07:43:34.422-05:00I am so far from being a scholar of Stockhausen...I am so far from being a scholar of Stockhausen's music that I am confused by the reference to PP1, etc. I assume that you are referring to the PianoPieces, usually known by their German title Klavierstücke?<br /><br />Thanks for pointing out this thread connecting the pieces. I confess that I have never analyzed this music.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-51487467570460575312014-05-28T09:56:32.939-05:002014-05-28T09:56:32.939-05:00Something went wrong. What I intended to say was t...Something went wrong. What I intended to say was that after 50 years of listening to PPS1-4, and with visitors who have come to Stock Soc, I have only recently been aware that the four short bass notes 'under' the first held chord of PP1, occur isolated in PP2 (so obvious that they were missed (:-), occur at the end of PP3 (in different order) and literally permeate PP4 - these four notes are everywhere until at the end in the highest register, they emphasise their existence. It may be argued that the shape changes by inversion, but I believe clever clogs KS knew what he was doing. The main structures of PP1 are seven held sustained chords of varying density and a three note motif which occurs throughout. There are more sign posts showing how to 'follow' PP1, than on any motorway(:-Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06363203393464054472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-68460408960900111642014-05-27T16:34:46.998-05:002014-05-27T16:34:46.998-05:00Ivor, thanks so much for your contribution. I see ...Ivor, thanks so much for your contribution. I see that the website of the Stockhausen Society has much to offer.<br /><br />http://www.stockhausensociety.org/<br /><br />I think I know what you mean about the music talking to you. I have that sense with the music of Shostakovich from time to time. I recall quite vividly my discussion with Stockhausen when I met him in Salzburg in 1988. A very interesting man and composer.<br /><br />Is there something missing from the end of your comment, as I can't make out your meaning there?Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-16052755186039341912014-05-27T14:38:14.533-05:002014-05-27T14:38:14.533-05:00I am the founder of the Stockhausen Society and on...I am the founder of the Stockhausen Society and on the website you can hear my melodic and rhythmic analysis with Stockhausen's vocal approval added on from the recording of my 5 hour session at his home.<br />This, in my opinion, is one way to introduce KS to a wider public [at least 100 people did not return for a second helping of Gruppen at South Bank in October, thanks to the most irrelevant and misleading pre-concert talk by a BBC presenter. Stockahausen's greatness is that he is the only composer I know (and I have tons of contemp composer recordings)who can make the music 'talk' to the listener. From Kontra-Punkte (a discussion group that is dominated and kicked out by and intruding piano that wants the hall for itself) the the 'conversation' between electronic sounds in Kontakte (tape only). I KNOW what they're talking about - I just can't translate adequately! The brass instruments in Momente are more explicit as they lecherously comment on the soloist. There is some also-ran music. Working on the piano pieces, I discovered that the four notes in bar 3 are also a staple, occurring in PP2 3 and 4.<br />,<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06363203393464054472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-24184533491617879722014-05-26T10:35:44.445-05:002014-05-26T10:35:44.445-05:00Thanks Christopher for filling in so many details ...Thanks Christopher for filling in so many details for us!<br /><br />Re the pieces for multiple orchestras, that is probably just personal taste. But I do struggle with excess complexity. Mind you, if you read the article on Wikipedia about the Klavierstucke, you might start seeing everything he wrote as an example of excess complexity.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-69831424626627490792014-05-26T10:06:01.104-05:002014-05-26T10:06:01.104-05:00It’s worth pointing out that the supposedly rich c...It’s worth pointing out that the supposedly rich choice of Stockhausen music on Amazon is misleading: 1) many of those CDs have been released after his death, as labels are more willing to record his music now that the control freak is gone; 2) some of those CDs (namely the two Deutsche Grammophon box sets of days from LICHT and the ECM recording of <i>Michaels Reise</i>) date from before the composer’s founding of Stockhausen-Verlag as the main outlet for his music; 3) most of the non-Verlag CD recordings from the 1980s and 1990s are essentially wind-instrument bagatelles, not major works, and 4) As Amazon is a portal for third-party sellers of used recordings, a search will turn up vinyl recordings from Stockhausen's 1950-1970 tenure on Deutsche Grammophon.<br /><br />Stockhausen really did succeed in plunging into oblivion the pre-LICHT recordings that were acclaimed as classics of mid-century modernism. when I discovered 20th-century music, I read constantly about <i>Carré</i>, <i>Sternklang</i> and <i>Hymnen</i>, but had no way to hear them unless I wanted to seek out expensive used vinyl.<br /><br />Of course, now one can turn to classical music filesharing services to hear everything – and YouTube with its low-quality compressed-to-hell audio isn't even the ideal place. I know at least one Russian site that has Stockhausen-Verlag's entire output in FLAC with scans of the liner notes.<br /><br />I’m curious why you are sceptical of his “works for multiple orchestras”? <i>Gruppen</i> these days gets programmed as a crowd-pleaser, with only the expense of many, many rehearsals giving music directors pause. When I hear <i>Gruppen</i> in Helsinki in 2008, there was a big crowd of old and young, classical music and pop music fans alike, and everyone walked out effusively professing their amazement at the sounds.Christopher Culverhttp://www.christopherculver.comnoreply@blogger.com