Beatz would be remiss without offering a small tribute to Karlheinz Stockhausen, the prolific and heavily influential avant-garde composer who died in Germany on December 5th. Also included in this post is a short primer to his electronic work in the 1950s and 1960s.

Back at the beginning of college, I was more enamored with Stockhausen’s theories and concepts than his actual music. But listening back to his seminal electronic work in the 1960s, I’ve found myself impressed with the acute sharpness of his tonal shapes. There is no blurring, droning, or ambient subtlety to works like Kontakt, Mikrophonie, or Telemusik: they hit you directly and bluntly, with one singular and confident voice. I appreciate such focus in a day when there are far too many choices in front of us, and more than enough wishy-washyness to go around.

For those who are electronically-inclined and want to check out Stockhausen, here is a quick primer on his work from the ’60s. Note: all of Stockhausen’s CDs must be ordered directly from his website. There’s a reason you never see his CDs in your record store…

1. Gesang der Jünglinge (1955)
Available on Stockhausen CD 3: Elektronische Musik 1952-60

Probably his most “famous” or well-known work, and I can only imagine what an unassuming 1955 thought of “Gesang der Jünglinge” - it must have sounded like it came from another universe entirely. Featuring a very manipulated recording of a child singing a biblical story alongside more traditional electronic studio sounds (not unlike Tod Dockstader), this 10 minute piece is often cited as one of the best pieces of electronic music from the 1950s. I wouldn’t argue with that.

2. Kontakt (1959-60)
Available on Stockhausen CD 3: Elektronische Musik 1952-60

A 30-minute electronic studio piece composed over a year, Kontakt improves on Gesang’s blueprint by adding a greater use of space and dynamics. It is a piece originally composed in 4 channels, and was/is performed with 4 loudspeakers surrounding the audience. Ranging from bubbly sounds you might hear on a Raymond Scott record to noisy industrial-like klanging and “barely there” ambient sounds, Kontakt might be Stockhausen’s best realized electronic work.

3. Mikrophonie I (1964)
Available on Stockhausen CD 9: Mikrophonie I / Mikrophonie II / Telemusik

An interactive piece for tam tam (gong), microphone, and potentiometer (a filter/mixing device). How it works: one person plays the gong, another moves the microphone around to catch the different sounds emanating from the gong, and a third person filters and changes the volume of the initial sounds. A great companion to Kontakt.

4. Telemusik (1966)
Available on Stockhausen CD 9: Mikrophonie I / Mikrophonie II / Telemusik

A piece commissioned on Stockhausen’s trip to Japan, Telemusik is scored for many different types of filters, generators, and tape recorders, while also incorporating local recordings from Japan, Bali, Vietnam, South America, Spain, and Hungary. It may have a bit of a collage feel to it, but you can definitely see how this and Kontakt influenced the early analog-oriented IDM and Warp records material.

5. Stimmung (1968)
Available on Stockhausen CD 12: Stimmung

For those who think Stockhausen is “too academic”, “too serious”, or “too noisy”, this is the piece to try first. A 70-minute choral work revolving around the overtones and harmonics for a B-flat drone, the results are very intimate and almost “pretty”, despite a plethora of alien-sounding harmonies and voicings. With tight (I hesitate to say “motorik”) rhythms of static pitches alternating with harmonic drones and lyrical fragments, Stimmung is one of Stockhausen’s most accessible works.

Also recommended: Hymnen, another collage-like piece using national anthems from about 40 different countries, and Spiral, an electronic piece incorporating a short-wave receiver that has been re-recorded a few times over the years.

Stockhausen became interested in “intuitive music” in the ’70s, where the entire score to a piece often revolved around a short set of directions for the performer. The score for Intensität is perhaps my favorite example of this, and is a fitting epitaph:

“Play a single sound
with such dedication
until you feel the warmth
that radiates from you.
Play on and sustain it
as long as you can.”

Stockhausen official site
Reviews of records on Stockhausen’s label
Bjork interviews Stockhausen
Intuitive Music

[Michael F. Gill]