Karlheinz Stockhausen

This CD pairs two pieces written in 1974 and 1975 by Karlheinz Stockhausen that belong together. Tierkreis (Zodiac) is a set of twelve melodies, one for each sign of the zodiac, first written for music boxes. Musik im Bauch (Music in the Belly) is scenic music for six percussionists and music boxes, and the Tierkreis melodies were composed as part of it. The idea came from a joke with his two-year-old daughter Julika, who burst out laughing when he told her she had music in her belly.

Each Tierkreis melody is built on a tone row, centred on a different chromatic pitch, and has its own tempo and rhythmic scheme. A full performance starts with the sign of the day and returns to it at the end. Stockhausen had the music boxes made by the Swiss firm Reuge. In Musik im Bauch the players use antique cymbals, glockenspiel, marimba, switches whipped through the air and three music boxes. A large cloth bird-man doll called Miron hangs above the stage. Les Percussions de Strasbourg gave the premiere on 28 March 1975 at the Royan Festival, in a horse stable in Saintes. They made the recording heard here in February 1977. Tierkreis takes 25:10 here, in twelve tracks played on music boxes, and Musik im Bauch takes 34:00.

This is Stockhausen Edition no. 24 from Stockhausen-Verlag, Kürten, on one CD, issued in 1992.