Stockhausen in Belfast, day 1/3
19:30 23/05/04, Whitla Hall, Belfast
Dressed in white trousers, a white shirt, an orange jumper and a white jacket, Stockhausen was already at the mixing desk as the audience filtered into the Whitla Hall. The stage was completely empty and blacked out apart from "a small projected full moon" from a spotlight. Speakers were clustered in each of the hall's eight corners. The composer took to the stage to introduce each piece separately and at length. He would end his introductions with the wish that we closed our eyes, the better to leave our bodies behind, and that we had a good time listening.
Electronic Study 1 (1953)
Lasting about thirteen minutes, the stark beauty of this work audibly recalls Webern, but with the expressivity of each sound coming purely from its timbre rather that from that of a musician's hand, say, on the bridge of a violin.
Electronic Study 2 (1954)
Stockhausen stated that he made an intensive study of phonetics before writing this second study though he did not explain why except that he felt that this piece was built from sounds akin to consonants rather than vowel-sounds as in the first study. It is much briefer, lasting less than four minutes.
Gesang der Junglinge (Song of the Youths) (1955-1956)
Stockhausen integrates the voice of a 12-year old boy singing from the 3rd Book of Daniel ("O all ye light and darkness, praise ye the Lord") into his world of synthesized sounds. The effect of the almost drowned voice coming up and up again to give praise in the bubbling stream of sound is surprisingly moving.
Kontakte (1959-1960)
While there is a version of this work which uses two musicians playing live, we heard the purely electronic version of this work. As perhaps his best known piece of electronic music, it is the work of Stockhausen that I am most familiar with, but it never fails to reveal something new each time to me each time I hear it. In this version, without the two musicians, there is less emphasis on the contact between instrumental and synthesized sounds, but when projected over 8 speakers surrounding the audience, the spatial effects are obviously that much more powerful. The abstract sounds never cease to develop and change, creating an entirely new, beautiful and alien world.
Dressed in white trousers, a white shirt, an orange jumper and a white jacket, Stockhausen was already at the mixing desk as the audience filtered into the Whitla Hall. The stage was completely empty and blacked out apart from "a small projected full moon" from a spotlight. Speakers were clustered in each of the hall's eight corners. The composer took to the stage to introduce each piece separately and at length. He would end his introductions with the wish that we closed our eyes, the better to leave our bodies behind, and that we had a good time listening.
Electronic Study 1 (1953)
Lasting about thirteen minutes, the stark beauty of this work audibly recalls Webern, but with the expressivity of each sound coming purely from its timbre rather that from that of a musician's hand, say, on the bridge of a violin.
Electronic Study 2 (1954)
Stockhausen stated that he made an intensive study of phonetics before writing this second study though he did not explain why except that he felt that this piece was built from sounds akin to consonants rather than vowel-sounds as in the first study. It is much briefer, lasting less than four minutes.
Gesang der Junglinge (Song of the Youths) (1955-1956)
Stockhausen integrates the voice of a 12-year old boy singing from the 3rd Book of Daniel ("O all ye light and darkness, praise ye the Lord") into his world of synthesized sounds. The effect of the almost drowned voice coming up and up again to give praise in the bubbling stream of sound is surprisingly moving.
Kontakte (1959-1960)
While there is a version of this work which uses two musicians playing live, we heard the purely electronic version of this work. As perhaps his best known piece of electronic music, it is the work of Stockhausen that I am most familiar with, but it never fails to reveal something new each time to me each time I hear it. In this version, without the two musicians, there is less emphasis on the contact between instrumental and synthesized sounds, but when projected over 8 speakers surrounding the audience, the spatial effects are obviously that much more powerful. The abstract sounds never cease to develop and change, creating an entirely new, beautiful and alien world.
posted by Peter at 11:14
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