Composition / Contemporary

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition no. 102 contains five new arrangements of the solo work In Freundschaft (In Friendship). In Freundschaft was written as a clarinet solo for (and dedicated to) woodwind player Suzanne Stephens for her birthday and was first premiered by her in 1978, though a flute version was performed earlier during Stephens' actual birthday celebration. In the following years, Stockhausen composed versions for many more instruments, including recorder, oboe, bassoon (w. ted…

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition no. 101  contains four new arrangements of the solo work In Freundschaft (In Friendship). In Freundschaft was written as a clarinet solo for (and dedicated to) woodwind player Suzanne Stephens for her birthday and was first premiered by her in 1978, though a flute version was performed earlier during Stephens' actual birthday celebration. In the following years, Stockhausen composed versions for many more instruments, including recorder, oboe, bassoon (w. te…

At the onset, we hear a single, heavily distorted power chord. The chord  fades, and then we hear three more iterations of the chord in regular, pulsed attacks. To some, especially fans of metal and its many subgenres, this sound is welcoming and familiar. To others, this sound is surprising, perhaps arresting—an unexpected opening from a composer known for music of quiet, prolonged stillness. This chord and its four attacks signal the opening of The Complexity of Distance, a 58-minute collabora…

By Zeitkratzer director Reinhold Friedl's personal request now available on vinyl for the first time: Zeitkratzer's critically acclaimed interpretations of groundbreaking compositions by James Tenney.James Tenney (1934 - 2006) was a composer, music theorist and pioneer especially in the field of microtonal music, being an influential part of the so-called New York avantgarde scene (Cage, Feldman). Besides his compositonal work, Tenney was teacher at various universities with students like Charle…

*2022 Stock.* Jubiläum and Tierkreis (Zodiac) for orchestra. This disc features primarily orchestral works, as well as recordings of the Tierkreis melodies while installed for the Cologne Town Hall carillon. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Treue (Fidelity, 11th Hour from Klang, for wind trio, 2007) and Erwachen (Awakening, 12th Hour from Klang, for trio, 2007) both adapt and re-sequence melodic and rhythmic material from Schönheit (The Stockhausen Edition no. 87) to create a similarly hypnotic web of lyrical polyphony, approaching and receding from the listener. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Hoffnung (Hope, 9th Hour from Klang, for string trio, 2007) and Glanz (Brilliance, 10th Hour from Klang, for septet, 2007) both adapt and re-sequence melodic and rhythmic material from Schönheit (on The Stockhausen Edition no. 87) to create a similarly hypnotic web of lyrical polyphony, approaching and receding from the listener. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Balance (7th Hour from Klang, 2007) and Glück (Bliss, Eighth Hour from Klang, 2007) are both wind trios which adapt and re-sequence melodic and rhythmic material from Schönheit (on The Stockhausen Edition no. 87) to create a similarly hypnotic web of lyrical polyphony, approaching and receding from the listener. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Harmonien (Harmonies, 5th Hour from Klang, 2006) consists of three adaptations (for bass clarinet, flute, trumpet) of a composition for a solo melody instrument, in which broad melodic fragments are answered by brisk cycles of related arpeggio figures (or broken chords). These ostinato figures are modulated dynamically so that they subtly approach and recede. In Schönheit (Beauty, 6th Hour from Klang, 2006) the material from the three arrangements of Harmonien are layered and synch…

*2022 Stock.* Chamber Works from Licht, for Brass, Reeds, Percussion & Electronics.

'The music on this album is a variation on a variation, the Goldberg Variation no. 21 by JS Bach. In a moment of realistic modesty, it struck me that I will probably never live up to my old dream of being able to play all the Goldberg variations in a way that’s at least close to the composer’s intentions and that pleases my own ears. However, I reckoned, perhaps I could use the score of one of the pieces as a foundation to build something else. Exploring and at the same time (re)creating the res…

*111 copies limited edition. 2022 stock* ‘Light Colours In Jyderup’ is a trademark Marta Forsberg composition – in a relatively short space of time, the Swedish composer is able to transform the simplest of sonic materials into the most magical, transcendent experience. Using only vocals and some effects, she makes a handful of students from a tiny Danish town sound both alien and medieval; the way the piece unfolds is graceful, its tone and feeling is sacred yet warm, like a Christmas carol fro…

*2022 Stock.* This is a 2 CD presentation of a new recording of Momente from 1998. Momente has a "mobile-form", which means that the individual segments can be rearranged from performance to performance (typically pre-arranged at the conductor's discretion). Therefore this version is again unique from the 1965 and 1972 versions of Momente found on The Stockhausen Edition no. 7. Like the 1965 version, it does start with the "clapping" sequence, but in this performance the transition from "audienc…

*2022 Stock.* Punkte was presented in an earlier form on The Stockhausen Edition no. 2 (1966 version, rec. 1977). This version, recorded in 2004 with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under Péter Eötvös (and using modern high fidelity), is a version of Punkte revised in 1994. The CD includes an introduction by Stockhausen (in German and English). - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* This CD highlights three different percussionists (Michael Pattmann, Andreas Boettger, and Stuart Gerber), as well as the synthesizer of Antonio Pérez Abellán. Klavierstück XVIII and Mittwoch-Formel are two arrangements of the Licht super-formula (theme) on synthesizer and percussion trio, respectively. Komet (for a solo percussionist) is accompanied by a unique tape piece where the voice of Kathinka Pasveer takes on the two children's chorus parts from Kinderkrieg (1995). This pie…

*2022 Stock. Includes a 20-page booklet in German and English.* Sonntags-Abschied (Sunday Farewell) contains the exit music for Sonntag aus Licht, programmed and performed by a synthesizer quintet. Harmonically, Sonntags Abschied is an arrangement of the choral structure from Hoch-Zeiten (CD 73 or 71). These dynamic, somewhat vocally-articulated layers are organized as slowly changing, static harmonies - but with very active inner vibrations (embellishments and melodic transitions). - Stockhause…

*2022 Stock.* Hoch-Zeiten (High-Times, 2001/02, 5th scene of Sonntag aus Licht) for orchestra and choir. The 5th scene of Sonntag aus Licht is actually a 2-part conception. One part is staged as an instrumental orchestral work, and the other is a simultaneous a cappella choral work performed in another room. However, sounds from the orchestral part are piped into the choral work, and vice-versa. This CD presents the orchestra point of view (WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne), followed by that of th…

*2022 Stock.* 9 Düfte Der Woche (9 Scents of the Week, from Düfte – Zeichen) for 7 vocalists, boy’s voice, synthesizer (2002). This CD contains the nine songs from Düfte – Zeichen (Scents – Signs), 4th scene of Sonntag Aus Licht (Sunday from Light) on the Stockhausen Edition no. 69, but without the background ensemble vocals. In other words, each song is presented as an independently-performed vocal work, backed only by the synthesizer part. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Düfte - Zeichen (Scents – Signs, 4th scene of Sonntag aus Licht (Sunday from Light) for 7 vocalists, boy’s voice, synthesizer (2002). This Scene features six vocalists grouped as soloists, in duets, and in trios, supported and bracketed by rhythmically-free (aleatoric) background ensemble text and glassy synthesizer harmonies. At the end are two additional songs featuring a youth "from the audience". The vocal texts (included in the booklet) describe the themes behind each of the s…

*2022 Stock. Includes a 56-page illustrated booklet in German and English.* Licht-Bilder, Licht Pictures, 3rd scene of Sonntag aus Licht (Sunday from Light), for tenor vocalist and basset-horn, with ring-modulated flute and trumpet (2002/03). Licht-Bilder is performed by a tenor soloist (Hubert Mayer), ring-modulated trumpet (Marco Blaauw), bassett-horn (Suzanne Stephens) and ring-modulated flute/alto-flute (Kathinka Pasveer), as they polyphonically explore variations on a backwards form of the …

*2022 Stock. Engel - Prozessionen (Angel Processions), 2nd scene of Sonntag Aus Licht (Sunday from Light) for choir groups. The 1st disc on this 2 CD set contains the complete recording of Engel - Prozessionen, the 2nd Scene from  Sonntag Aus Licht (Sunday from Light), performed by the Groot Omroepkoor (Netherlands Radio Choir), and featuring soloists Isolde Siebert, Janet Collins, Hubert Mayer and Andreas Fischer. This scene is structured as 56 short, polyphonic vocal pieces performed by 7 sepa…

*2022 Stock.* Mittwochs-Gruss (Wednesday Greeting) - Electronic Music from Mittwoch Aus Licht/Wednesday from Licht (developed during Michaelion's 1998 production, this final tape version was created in 2003). Mittwochs-Gruss is an 8-channel electronic music work realized with synth patches programmed by Antonio Pérez Abellán. It is featured as the entrance music for the opera, and is rendered live during Michaelion as a background element. Like the electronic music of Dienstag aus Licht (Oktopho…

*2022 Stock. Szenen Vom Freitag Aus Licht (10 Scenes of Friday from Light) contains just the live music sequences (the "Real Scenes") from Freitag Aus Licht, excerpted from the Stockhausen Edition no. 50. The booklet includes the bulk of the libretto (the children's texts). - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Europa-Gruss / Stop Und Start / Zwei Paare / Komet / Licht-Ruf is titled the "Electronic and Concrete Music of Stockhausen". However, this CD actually opens with two electro-acoustic chamber pieces, highlighting an ensemble dominated by winds, performing monolithic adaptions of older works.- Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock. Includes 124-page booklet in German and English.* “Stimmung” was a commission from the City of Cologne, for an ensemble at the Rheinische Musikschule; Collegium Vocale Köln. It was written early 1968, in February and March, in a house on Long Island Sound in Madison, Connecticut, where Stockhausen and his wife Mary Bauermeister and their children lived a couple of months. This commission for a vocal work took on a completely new direction when Stockhausen – out of consideration for …

*2022 Stock.* Elektronische Musik Mit Tonszenen Vom Freitag Aus Licht, this 2 CD set contains the dark ambient electronic music (Weltraum, or "Outer Space") from the opera Freitag Aus Licht (Friday from Light), combined/mixed with the Paare vom Freitag (Couples of Friday) "Sound Scenes" (heard as isolated duets on Paare vom Freitag, The Stockhausen Edition no. 48). In other words, this is the "tape" parts of the opera without the live performers. The electronic music is also used as the ambient …

*2022 Stock.* This 4 CD set contains the complete staged version of Freitag Aus Licht (Friday from Light), with all three layers presented: Weltraum (ambient background sound textures), the 12 Sound Scenes" created from the Paare vom Freitag (electroacoustic/concrete vocal duets) and the 10 "Real Scenes" (live performances with vocals, choir, children's choir, bassett-horn, flute, synth). This electro-acoustic opera especially stands out for it's use of  opposing children's choir groups. - Stock…

*2022 Stock.* This CD contains 3 X Refrain 2000 for piano with 3 wood blocks (Benjamin Kobler), sampler-celesta with 3 antique cymbals (Antonio Pérez Abellán), and vibraphone with 3 cow bells and glockenspiel (Andreas Boettger). This is essentially 3 "versions" of Refrain (originally composed in 1959, and recorded earlier on the Stockhausen Edition no. 6) with the indeterminate notation strip in 3 different orientations and with some minor additions to the coda. In a concert performance, all 3 v…

*2022 Stock.* This disc contains two pre-Licht pieces, one a modernized reworking of an intuitive text piece from Aus Den Sieben Tagen, and the the other an "historical/archival" release from the shortwave radio "Plus-Minus" series. Litanei 97 is basically a reworking of the piece Litanei (Litany) from Stockhausen's 1968 collection of intuitive text pieces, Aus Den Sieben Tagen (From the Seven Days), which generally uses verbal instructions to direct improvisational ensembles performances. In co…

*2022 Stock.* This disc has two longer electro-acoustic works. Rechter Augenbrauentanz (Right-Eyebrow-Dance) is a completely new arrangement of a theme from "Lucifer's Dance", and in Capricorn, Nicholas Isherwood sings the "Winter" portion of Sirius (originally recorded by Boris Carmeli on the Stockhausen Edition no. 26) over the Sirius electronic tape .- Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Lichter - Wasser (Light-Waters) is the 1st Scene of Stockhausen's dramatic music work Sonntag Aus Licht (Sunday from Light), which was the last-composed entry of his 7-part, 29-hour opera cycle Licht (Light). Licht is a work for acoustic and electronic operatic forces, divided into the 7 days of the week (one opera for each day). This opera cycle revolves around 3 archetype characters, Michael, Eve, and Lucifer, and over the 29 hours each of these characters are introduced, come in…

*2022 Stock. Includes a 86-page booklet.* Although several recordings of Stockhausen's cycle for solo piano have been recorded over the decades, notably by David Tudor and Aloys Kontarsky, this set is the definitive edition, with Ellen Corver presenting the first 14 Klavierstücke, working directly under Stockhausen's supervision and incorporating his latest corrections/additions. Stockhausen first started working with Corver in 1982, and these tracks were recorded in 1997/98. The 86-page booklet…

*2022 Stock. Includes a 116-page illustrated booklet in German and English.* The choral action of Michaelion is first heard against a textural synth background, interspersed with melodic fragments in various instrumental timbres. Shortly afterwards, the live synth textures of Mittwochs-Gruss support the vocal and instrumental interaction. The bass soloist's shortwave radio part is actually a performance of Kurzwellen (representing his "language"). The other vocal soloists' noisemaker toys are us…

*2022 Stock. Includes a 32-page booklet in German and English.* Welt-Parlament Vom Mittwoch Aus Licht (World Parliament, 1st scene of Wednesday from Light) for choir a cappella (1995). Welt-Parlament is the 1st Scene from the opera Mittwoch Aus Licht (Wednesday from Light). After the introduction (which includes some incidental hand percussion and a forest of clicking metronomes), 12 vocal groups and soloists engage in a dynamic dialogue, representing a world congress in polyphonic "song-babble"…

Four revolutionary orchestral works from 1951-52 showcase Stockhausen's bold transition to large ensemble writing. Featuring Formel, innovative Schlagtrio, theatrical Spiel, and the composer-conducted Punkte, this collection captures his pioneering experiments with orchestral pointillism and percussive techniques.

*2022 Stock. Includes 32-page booklet in German and English.* On volume no. 5 in the ongoing Stockhausen Edition we meet large-scale orchestral works for the first time in the series. The first piece on this CD originates in a commission that Stockhausen received from the WDR, but nobody – perhaps not even Stockhausen – could foresee the kind of music that would eventually come out of this commission. The end result was no less than revolutionary, in its totally new concept of music moving in sp…

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition No.19 contains two recordings of the enigmatic orchestral work Trans, which highlights sometimes comic soloists playing against a backdrop of percolating winds and slowly-modulating strings. The imagery and general sonic characteristics of Trans came to Stockhausen in a dream he had in 1970. The result was an orchestral work where the most active members of the orchestra are hidden from view, and a slow-moving wall of string players hosts several comically b…

*2022 Stock.*  "Am Himmel Wandere Ich..."documents a cycle of 12 mystical male-female vocal duets based on traditional American Indian song texts. Am Himmel Wandre Ich's text-influenced melodies could possibly be viewed as Stockhausen's version of the madrigal tradition, mixed with ancient ritual and a glorification of nature (I suppose the fact that they are typically performed between a man and a woman makes them come across as love songs as well). The idea of having almost innumerable possibl…

*2022 Stock.* Inori is a large scale work for orchestra which portrays the formation of a theme, one parameter at a time (rhythm - dynamics - melody - harmony - polyphony). Essentially, slow-moving sound masses in the beginning evolve into dramatic, complex gestures by the end. Two dancer-mimes are listed as soloists, but obviously they can't be heard on the CD. Inori is a further development of the formula concept Stockhausen first began exploring in Mantra,and would eventually be fully explore…

*2022 Stock.* Atmen Gibt Das Leben is a semi-theatrical choral work, with the second half accompanied by orchestral background textures. The melodic vocal elements here have a somewhat humorous, folk-like feel to them. Atmen Gibt Das Leben (Breathing Gives Life) is essentially written for a capella mixed choir, but Stockhausen also includes a somewhat secondary orchestra part (usually played as a tape accompaniment) which is used to color the unaccompanied choir. There are 2 sections to this wor…