Karlheinz Stockhausen
New Albion Records
Karlheinz Stockhausen is widely regarded as one of the most
influential composers of the postwar era. He has moved through many
different stages in his career, but his widespread use of electronics throughout his work has had a lasting impact on the classical, avant-garde, and electronic music communities. Born in 1928, Stockhausen began studying composition in 1947 in his native Cologne, Germany, where he developed long-range serial compositions. Stockhausen's first major
interest in electronics came during a 1951 trip to Paris to study under Olivier Messiaen. In 1956, after returning to Cologne, Stockhausen released Gesang der J?nglinge, his first electronic music breakthrough as well as one of the first tape-loop works ever created. Four years later, he unveiled Kontakte, one of the first compositions to mix live instrumentation with pre-recorded material. Throughout the rest of
the 1960s he worked almost exclusively with electronics, using a combination
of live orchestration, microphones, electrical filters, sine-wave generators, and ring modulators in pieces like Mikrophonie I and II and Mixtur.
The tracks presented here come from 1970's Mantra. Reinhard
Oehlschlagel writes, "There is one thing that probably no one who was
present at the world premiere of Mantra in Donaueschingen, Germany,
on Sunday evening, October 18, 1970, was aware of: Mantra is a key
work in the development of Karlheinz Stockhausen's music...More than
twenty years after its premiere, Mantra occurs as
Stockhausen's first "Formelkomposition," and therefore as a keywork
to almost all of his following pieces...The basis of the piece is
twelve-tone motive, where every note has a specific duration, rhythmic value
and intensity." At times, the music is very sparse, but the sounds are
fascinating. Mantra follows a rather rigid formula in which each of
the thirteen sections acts as a microcosm of the work as a whole.
Noel Morrison
last updated:
08/14/01
Similar Artists:
John Cage, Edgard Varese, Scanner, Cornelius Cardew, Brise-Glace, Michel Banabila, Hannes Vennik, and Bobby, Alvin Curran, Charles Dodge
Other Suggestions:
Morton Feldman,
Laurie Anderson,
Nobukazu Takemura,
James Tenney,
Pauline Oliveros,
Harry Partch,
Bela Bartok,
Arnold Schoenberg,
Henry Cowell,
Z'Ev,
Gene Moore,
Tom Recchion,
Stock, Hausen, and Walkman,
Squirrel Bait,
Bastro,
Gastr del Sol,
Jim O'Rourke,
Dazzling Killmen,
Tyondai Braxton,
Nachtluft,
Local Area Network,
386 DX,
Gamers in Exile,
Mikael Stavostrand,
S.O.L.O.,
Bo Square,
Steve Lacy, Irene Aebi, and Frederic Rzewski
