Stockhausen

[reith]

It's been some days since his passing on: 5th December. To me, a composer of great stature, working tirelessly to move music forward against a wrecked backdrop of German culture. Not quite alone but a great contributor, part of a group that opened music up for generations of composers, classical and popular, to come. It's taken a little understanding of his history to come to terms with the music but I can at least appreciate the spiritual base of his composition.

In case anyone is interested and hoping I'm not too late, Radio 3's Hear and Now tonight is devoted to him with extracts from a few of his works. "Music Matters" (1215-1300 today) was also about him, bringing in Boulez and a host of others.

His own website has done nothing to promote his music - difficult to use; only accepts payment in euros so my debit card is out, no paypal. Let's hope his estate opens things up a bit.

RIP Stockhausen.

[fundrazor]

I doubt you'll get many replies to this one since I doubt many people have ever actually listened to more than a few seconds of the man's music. Having once sat through Donnerstag auf Licht I wish I were among them.

I'm afraid he will probably be a major name in every composition textbook of the 20th century without ever gaining an appreciable audience. An intellectual powerhouse to be sure, but cold, unapproachable and - in my view - emotionally sterile.

[some guy]

Too bad, as he wrote a lot of really exciting stuff.

Hymnen
Mikrophonie
Kontakte
Momente
Kurzwelle
Prozession

and of course that most famous early electroacoustic piece Gesang der Jünglinge.

And those are just the ones, the very few that I know at all well. He wrote a ton of stuff, not all of it readily available, though.

(What, by the way, does "emotionally sterile" mean? I tried, but I couldn't get it to correspond to anything I've ever known.)

[fundrazor]

I know the works (and you omitted the foot-tapping classics Gruppen and Carre) but a list of names doesn't make them any more illuminating. As for "emotionally sterile"? Well, have you never met an intellectual who misses the point through over-analysis? - think of Stephen Daedalus discussing beauty in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Hell, think Gordon Brown.

[zeitblom]

Originally Posted by fundrazor

An intellectual powerhouse to be sure, but cold, unapproachable and - in my view - emotionally sterile.

Well, I don't know. "Emotionally sterile" doesn't mean much to me. If you mean: "I don't like his music", ok. But to say "emotionally sterile" is - in my opinion - a little bit arrogant. I don't know anything about Stockhausens emotions, but I know that it can be a very "sensual" thing to write "intellectual" music. Unfortunately, I am far from being an expert of Stockhausens works, but the stuff I heard sounds often very, very beautifully for me. For you apparently it doesn't, and that's ok.

Greetings
Daniel