Composition / Contemporary

*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.* Luzifer's Zorn / Die 7 Lieder Der Tage / Der Kinderfänger features independent acoustic and electro-acoustic scenes from Montag Aus Licht (Monday from Light). These pieces spotlight the talents of bass vocalist Nicholas Isherwood, the "sound poetry" of Alain Louafi, and the flute and voice of Kathinka Pasveer.- Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*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 spotlights the trumpet and flugelhorn skills of Marcus Stockhausen (also a featured performer on The Stockhausen Edition no. 33, 35, and 43). These four tracks were originally released by EMI Classics in 1998. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*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.* Music for flute and synthesizer is a collection of independent acoustic and electro-acoustic chamber pieces drawn from four of the Licht operas, highlighting the flute and voice of Kathinka Pasveer as well as the synthesizer playing/programming of Antonio Pérez Abellán. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*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"…

* Edition of 60 * Born out of an unconditional love for the sound of the organ, sound artist Druuna Jaguar pieced together his recent endeavor, Eterno Retorno, through an obsessive urge to capture the structural depth of the historic Hammond organ. Treating the organ more like a synthesizer, while pushing the instrument to its tonal limits, Druuna Jaguar gracefully extracts hidden resonances and subtle nuances from the constant flux buried within these long sustained tones, penetrating deep with…

*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.* 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.* Solo includes new recordings of vintage-era variable-form solo chamber works involving shortwave radio or delay processing. A unique version of Solo (accompanied by excerpts from Hymnen Region 2) was previously recorded by trombonist Vinko Globokar for Deutsche-Grammaphon, but this is its first proper appearance on the Stockhausen label. Earlier electro-acoustic noise versions of Spiral can be found on The Stockhausen Edition no. 15. Both of these works feature an element of perfor…

*2022 Stock. Includes a 128-page booklet.* Markus Trompete Stockhausen features Markus Stockhausen performing Licht-related chamber works highlighting trumpet, piccolo trumpet, and flugelhorn. This CD also includes tracks created for a newly-recorded television broadcast presentation of Examen (from Act 1 of Donnerstag aus Licht). - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock. Includes a 192-page booklet in English.* Dienstag Aus Licht is the complete staged 4th opera of the Licht cycle, Dienstag Aus Licht (Tuesday from Light). This opera has a prelude Greeting, followed by two Acts. The first is a new arrangement and recording of Der Jahreslauf (The Stockhausen Edition no. 29). Besides being newly-arranged for Stockhausen's 2nd generation electro-acoustic ensemble, this version also has additional opening and closing character sequences to put it in cont…

*2022 Stock.* Stockhausen conducts Haydn and Mozart contains 3 concertos from the classical repertoire, featuring Stockhausen's primary soloists performing new cadenzas written by Stockhausen himself (between 1978 and 1985). Markus Stockhausen, Kathinka Pasveer and Suzanne Stephens are backed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Stockhausen), rec. 1985/86. Stockhausen's cadenzas are largely idiomatic, although sometimes approached with a more pensive "new music" perspective. - St…

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition no. 38, Geburts-Arien / Mädchenprozession mostly contains excerpted highlight scenes from the 1st and 2nd Acts of the opera Montag aus Licht, with some additional arrangements for a cappella girls' choir and solo piano. The first 16 tracks are the two "Geburts-Arien" (Act 1, Scene 3, also found on The Stockhausen Edition no. 36b). Tracks 34-53 contain the "Mädchenprozession", "Befruchtung mit Klavierstück", and "Wiedergeburt" scenes from Act 2 (found on the …

*2022 Stock.* Geburtsfest = Festival Of Birth presents the mixed choir layer of the entire first Act of the opera Montag aus Licht (with some embedded musique concrète elements). This a cappella version, the "Geburtsfest", allows the listener to experience a specific facet of the opera without the soloists. Waves of choral voices can be heard, layered in various renditions/atomizations of the Licht super-formula. - Stockhausenspace.blogspot.com

*2022 Stock.* Montag Aus Licht is the 5 CD, fully-staged version of the 3rd Licht opera, Montag aus Licht (Monday from Light). This massive work is comprised of 3 Acts and framed by 2 electro-acoustic installation pieces ("Begrüßung" and "Abschied"). In contrast to Samstag aus Licht (which was highly instrumental in nature), this opera is structured around mixed vocal combos and choir groups. The work features vocalist Nicholas Isherwood, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the WDR Cologne Choir, the…

*2022 Stock.* The magic of works by Stockhausen is their inherent possibility for new interpretations. There is a richness of expression hidden inside these works, which has to bloom in different instrumental and interpretational guises for it to realize its own charged splendor. There is no way you can exhaust this music’s inherent goldmine of musical and existential aspects through one version and one version alone. The version of “Oberlippentanz” which opens this CD is a reduced version of ap…

*2022 Stock.* Samstag aus Licht is the second opera written for Licht, Samstag aus Licht. This is a darkly humorous 4 act opera on 4 CDs, featuring flute, piano, wind (jazz) band and male choir. The 3rd Scene is presented in both the complete version and as the aborted strike version. In the latter case, the performance is halted before its completion by a revolt from the wind band members (for playing past contracted working hours). If you only get one Licht opera, this is the one I'd recommend…

*2022 Stock.* Aries - Klavierstück XIII contains two long works featuring Markus and Majella Stockhausen (in separate performances). Aries is essentially the Spring quadrant of Sirius (the Stockhausen Edition no. 26) with the electronic tape accompanied by only Markus Stockhausen's trumpet part (in effect a live electro-acoustic work). The other work is Majella Stockhausen's traversal of Klavierstück XIII, a solo piano work later adapted with vocal parts into Scene 1 from the opera Samstag Aus L…

*2022 Stock.* Musik Für Klarinette, Bassklarinette Und Bassethorn is a collection of works for clarinet, bass clarinet, and basset-horn featuring the artistry of Suzanne Stephens (also previously featured on In Freundschaft (the Stockhausen Edition no. 27). This 3 CD set includes recordings from 1989 to 1994 of compositions spanning 1974 through 1994. Many of these works are derived or arranged from Licht (reduced for independent concert recital). 7 works are for solo basset-horn, with the remai…

*2022 Stock.* Unsichtbare Chöre features a tape piece made up of 16 layers of a cappella choir tracks, employing a variety of massed vocal approaches, including the use of percussive and whispered noises, joined by a couple brief, hypnotic multi-tracked clarinet sequences. This tape is used as a textural background layer in Act 1 of the opera Donnerstag aus Licht (the Stockhausen Edition No. 30). In Act 3 the same tape is reused, but with the channels reversed. Although some of this material can…

*2022 Stock.* Der Jahreslauf features a pre-Licht work, although this piece would later be reworked as the opening Act to the Licht opera Dienstag aus Licht (on CD 40). Commissioned for Japanese Gagaku orchestra, Der Jahreslauf is essentially Stockhausen's take on the very slow-changing, web-like textures of this ancient ceremonial music form. As the Gagaku orchestra proceeds through various poly-textural wind and string arrangements, several interruptions arrive in the form of comic skits (usua…

*2022 Stock.* Musik Für Flöte features the artistry of Kathinka Pasveer on 2 CDs, performing solo works for flute, piccolo flute, and alto flute. In addition to the flute arrangements of Amour and In Freundschaft, it includes several solo arrangements of works from the Licht opera cycle. This set also notably includes the electro-acoustic version of Kathinkas Gesang, a piece performed with percussionists in the opera Samstag aus Licht, but here in a later version with electronic music created at…

*2022 Stock.* In Freundschaft features Suzanne Stephens performing three solo works for clarinet and basset-horn (alto clarinet). In Freundschaft (a 3-layer polyphony arranged for a single soloist) is a popular recital work, and has been arranged for many different instruments. It was written as a clarinet solo for 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…

*2022 Stock.* Harlekin / Der Kleine Harlekin features the clarinet and dance of woodwind player Suzanne Stephens. These two pieces for soloist are each based on a single formula theme, but with elements and limbs of the theme expanded and transformed at length in different textural explorations. An over-arching narrative theme enfolds the works in a dramatic scenario. Harlekin is a work for a costumed solo clarinetist with a substantial element of performer movement in its score (dance and mime …

*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…

*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.* 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. …

*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.* 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.* Sternklang features a roaming studio recording, documenting the five spacially-separated electro-acoustic chamber groups of Sternklang, a harmonically-modulating piece structurally similar to the all-vocal Stimmung. Some soloists are also highlighted in the mix as they migrate from one group to another. This 2 CD recording features members of the English new music groups Intermodulation and Gentle Fire, as well as Annette Meriweather (vox), Harald Bojé (synth), Michael Vetter (vox,…

*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. 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…