RIP Stockhausen

iainf72

Great composer of the last century has died.

Even if you've never heard his music he's definately had a massive impact.

andyp

I went to see a performance of one of his works at the Blackheath Halls in January and it was very powerful.

I must confess to not having heard much of his stuff before then though.

iainf72

andyp wrote:

I went to see a performance of one of his works at the Blackheath Halls in January and it was very powerful.

I must confess to not having heard much of his stuff before then though.

You were in Blackheath and you didn't pop in for a tea? Tut tut :P

I saw the London Sinfonietta perform some of his stuff and it was brilliant. I'd heard bits on record over the years and read quite a lot of his opinions / pieces on modern music.

ricadus

I heard all his concerts that were performed in a special series at the Barbican back in the mid-1980s.

Gesang Der Jünglinge, Stimmung, Telemusik, Hymnen were fabulous things to hear. Got his autograph on the concert booklet too.

mr_hippo

Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was not a fan of his music when asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen. He said, "No, but I once trod in some."

ermintrude

Ooo there are some lovely cultured cyclists on here. I thought the two words were mutually exclusive. I remember bying the score of Piano Piece No 10, it was about 2' square, wouldn't fit on the piano so I ended up having it framed and hung it on the wall (couldn't really play it anyway). I heard Stimmung on the radio yesterday, amazed how good it sounded.

Anonymous

mr_hippo wrote:

Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was not a fan of his music when asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen. He said, "No, but I once trod in some."

Would have to agree with Sir Thomas.
Discordant unstructured cacophonic self indulgent twaddle.
Would rather have a session of root descaling at the dentists than listen to that bunkum.

IanTrcp

Didn't one of his compositions require a string quartet playing in a helicopter above the auditorium? Or am I confusing him with someone else?

Anonymous

Aye ,he also said 9/11 was a work of art.
Talentless overrated but seldomed listened to gobshite.

andyp

sexybird wrote:

Aye ,he also said 9/11 was a work of art.
Talentless overrated but seldomed listened to gobshite.

Strikes a chord with you then.

ivancarlos

andyp wrote:

sexybird wrote:

Aye ,he also said 9/11 was a work of art.
Talentless overrated but seldomed listened to gobshite.

Strikes a chord with you then.

More of a dischord

Anonymous

andyp wrote:

sexybird wrote:

Aye ,he also said 9/11 was a work of art.
Talentless overrated but seldomed listened to gobshite.

Strikes a chord with you then.

Yes ,an augmented B when life is in the key of C.

Anonymous

ermintrude wrote:

Ooo there are some lovely cultured cyclists on here. I thought the two words were mutually exclusive. I remember bying the score of Piano Piece No 10, it was about 2' square, wouldn't fit on the piano so I ended up having it framed and hung it on the wall (couldn't really play it anyway). I heard Stimmung on the radio yesterday, amazed how good it sounded.

Nobody could ,his entire repertoire was based on an assumed understanding of his works,such was his ego,
Once had the misfortune of being in an orchestra doing his 'work'
The prompt from the director of music/conductor .Just improvise,no-one will know

vermooten

Watching Boulez conducting some of his work at the Barbican back in the day with PutneyJoe of this parish. The Stockhausen piece was played on a tape in quadrophonic, so Boulez didn't have much to do. He'd conducted some of his own compositions beforehand which sounded like incidental music in Star Trek.

I like Stimmung ever since a chum at school played it to me. It's also a good way to get people out of my house. Much more polite than saying "OK I'm bored now, so get the fck out outta here!!"

ricadus

IanTrcp wrote:

Didn't one of his compositions require a string quartet playing in a helicopter above the auditorium? Or am I confusing him with someone else?

As someone on amazon wrote:

This 1992-93 Stockhausen composition/conception is pretty interesting. In June of 1995, in three performances, the renowned Arditti String Quartet was lifted into the air in four helicopters (one performer per chopper). Their respective performances were broadcast onto giant television screens and through speakers, situated in an audio-visual hall as well as outdoors. In addition to watching the performers on screen, the outdoor audience could see the helicopters hovering roughly six kilometers above them. At the end of the performance, cameras followed the musicians and pilots from the helicopters to the hall, where they were introduced to the audience - an entrance to put just about any rock stars' to shame!

There seems to be a lot to talk about here. The performance sets up an interesting relationship between performer and audience, separating the audience by a distance of six kilometers from the performers they've converged to watch and listen to. The outdoor screens and the placement of the helicopters themselves places avant garde performance into a public and real-time sphere. It lends an unmistakable sense of awe and spectacle to the performance. Etc., etc. But everything that's interesting to me about this concept is tied up in the idea of performance, and unfortunately does not translate, frankly, at all to home listening.

:P

vermooten

The helicopter thingy was unlisten-to-able. I think Tomita did something similar.