Karlheinz Stockhausen

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition 21st CD features 2 performances of the open-form work YLEM, which musically portrays the birth and death of the universe through the progressive motion of handheld instruments through a performance space (or in this case, the stereo field). The word "ylem" ("eye - lum") comes from a 1940's science term for "matter", specifically the sub-atomic plasma initially created at the Big Bang which continues to spread outwards forming the boundaries of the universe. Stockhausen's composition YLEM musically simulates the Big Bang, as well as it's theorized (at that time) contraction (Big Crunch) and rebirth. Nowadays the concept of universal mass causing a Big Crunch is largely out of favor - but who knows? In any case, Stockhausen wrote this as a piece for the London Sinfonietta to play during a 1973 tour featuring his works. The basic sequence of events is that players start out on a fortissimo tri-tone tremolo and slowly expand their pitch ranges in aleatory (free) fashion, at the same time decreasing the note density by adding silences in between attacks. Some players concentrate on glissando figures which connect the notes of the other players. The phrases also become more elaborate in shape and color as the expansion proceeds. At one point a shortwave radio signal briefly surfaces. Eventually, the players begin to shout "HU!", after which the reverse happens (including another shortwave radio event). When the sounds reach its maximum density on the original tri-tone, a tam-tam strike signals the tri-tone to move up a note, after which the players disperse once again and fade out. On the Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 21, there are two performances of YLEM (the 3rd and 2nd recording sessions). - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com