# The Stockhausen Appreciation Thread



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I will start this off by asking a question. There's a new recording of klaviersticke by Sabine Liebner. Has anyone read the liner notes? Does she say anything about how she chose which pieces to play, and how she decided on her ordering? Anything generally about interpretation?









Maybe the booklet is on NML -- I'm not a member.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

The first 11 (I - XI) are included, and there are 2 realizations of XI. The notes are written by Wolfgang Rathert and contain rather detailed discussions about all 19 Klacierstucke. There seems to be no indication of why the particular order was chosen and nothing about specific interpretation.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Thanks, Liebner's interpretations are often very interesting but I've found it very difficult to find out what her inspiration is. The recording she made of the Cage piano etudes are another example. I'll give the CD a miss and just listen on qobuz.


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## Guest (Dec 29, 2018)

I didn’t know this recording existed tbh. I hope Wergo releases more Stockhausen. It’s a shame that his estate nearly has a monopoly on recordings of his music.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

...and thanks, Mandryka, for naming this "The Stockhausen Appreciation Thread." With a positive title like that, we will be able to justifiably invalidate any nay-sayers who barge in.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

shirime said:


> I didn't know this recording existed tbh. I hope Wergo releases more Stockhausen. It's a shame that his estate nearly has a monopoly on recordings of his music.


True, shrime, we need more Stockhausen on CD. At least his website now accepts paypal. Before, you had to pay in deutschemarks. Still, there are some good recordings available:

    "Adventures In Sound" has "Song of the Youths" on it.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

This is my latest Stockhausen purchase, I can't say that it's better than all the other recording of these warhorses, but I can say that I'm enjoying it.

Here's the story of why I bought it.

About two years ago I came across this stimulating recording of Morton Feldman's Palais de Mari









It's worth trying this recording for two reasons. One is the piano performance, which is creative. That means you may not like it, but I promise you that it will make you think again about the music. The other is the booklet essay, by Christian Tarting, he's an academic who has specialised in improvisation. In the essay, he makes the following comment, and the bit I've put in bold me pay attention



> The art of little proper to Feldman, the special emotional charge of his nearly monochromatic state, make particular demands on the performer - an unusual attentiveness is required, situated so- mewhere between humility and watchfulness. A state of being, where being wholly and utterly open is more important than virtuosic talent, though this is indispensable in music where the expected and the unexpected figure to such a degree. Performers of Feldman's music, who for these very reasons remain few and far between, interpret his music in the most noble and mystical sense of the term. They are readers: friends, heralds of a world they have made their own, giving us the tension of coalescence, the intensity of a spiritual exercise, in the confi- dence of their interpretation. Ronnie Lynn Patterson belongs to that small group of pianists, *Like Roger Woodward, Gérard Frémy and Marianne Schroeder, Ronnie Lynn Patterson belongs to that small group of pianists who "with no dependence, no nonsense" live their relationship to the full - a relationship with the man who believed that in the act of composing, concentration is much more important than the organization of the high points or any other conceptual approach*. In order to measure the actual degree of his own concentration, he chose to write his scores di- rectly in ink, and would break off his work at the very first deletion.


Well I knew Roger Woodward of course, I have mixed views. And I made a point of seeking out the other two, with great pleasure. Marianne Schroeder has recorded some Cage, very well IMO. And Gérard Frémy has recorded early Cage (the prepared piano sonatas) and . . . he features on the aforementioned excellent Stockhausen CD.

End of story. Good night.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Stockhausen is pretty new to me. I really liked Mantra for 2 pianos. He seems to be the most creative composer ever! "And now for something completely different"


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

millionrainbows said:


> True, shrime, we need more Stockhausen on CD. At least his website now accepts paypal. Before, you had to pay in deutschemarks. Still, there are some good recordings available:
> 
> "Adventures In Sound" has "Song of the Youths" on it.


I have that Adventures in Sound CD. Great value. Historic early musique concrete and electronic music. My favourite works by Stockhausen are Gesang.., Kontakte, and Mantra. I couldn't get into his other music.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I'm clapping my hands, stomping my feet, and howling random German words.
Is that a satisfactory sign of Stockhausen Appreciation?
If not, I could always drop the old guitar down the staircase.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

SONNET CLV said:


> I'm clapping my hands, stomping my feet, and howling random German words.
> Is that a satisfactory sign of Stockhausen Appreciation?
> If not, I could always drop the old guitar down the staircase.


Dropping the old guitar down the staircase would be appropriate.


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