Karlheinz Stockhause RIP

[Paul McEnery]

Sad news. Stockhausen has left the building.

Probably the highlight of my life was getting to interview him for Salon, so I'll just dump the link (http://archive.salon.com/people/bc/2001/01/16/stockhausen/index.html?source=search&aim=/people/bc) and leave it at that.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Well, shit. Another of the Great Experimenters gone.

I'll be listening to the Klavierstücke variations in memoriam.

[berk]

very sad. I've just begun getting into his work in the last year or so - and BTW having the devil of a time trying to find his stuff on cd or in downloadable format.

And marvellous write-up, Paul. Although it was written a few years back, I couldn't imagine a better obituary for the great man.

[Paul McEnery]

very sad. I've just begun getting into his work in the last year or so - and BTW having the devil of a time trying to find his stuff on cd or in downloadable format.

And marvellous write-up, Paul. Although it was written a few years back, I couldn't imagine a better obituary for the great man.

Oh, it's easy to get the CDs. If you're a gazillionaire.

See, Karlheinz bought the rights back, and put the whole lot out himself, in deluxe formats, at German prices. Now the packaging is delightful, but still...

[mattx110]

I'm sure there are plenty of his piano pieces recorded by other pianists out there.
Whenever you see his name on a program, you know it's going to be an experience. He made Wagner look like a safe composer.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I'm sure there are plenty of his piano pieces recorded by other pianists out there.
Whenever you see his name on a program, you know it's going to be an experience. He made Wagner look like a safe composer.
Wagner was a safe composer. Almost the entirety of twentieth-century composition has been predicated on that assumption.

[mattx110]

Wagner was a safe composer. Almost the entirety of twentieth-century composition has been predicated on that assumption.
Isn't he known for unrelenting delaying of resolution?
He stretched music up to his era as far as it could go. 3 hours without a real cadence isn't what I'd call safe. Not for people with ears anyway.

[Jonathan Bogart]

But like a pussy, he kept tonality.[/Schoenberg]

[mattx110]

But like a pussy, he kept tonality.[/Schoenberg]
which is why I actually typed "Stockhausen makes Wagner look like a pussy" but decided it was a bit rude. I thought "makes him look safe" would get the idea across that the new generation had more balls despite Wagner having very sizable balls, even though he was a horrible horrible man.

[Jonathan Bogart]

which is why I actually typed "Stockhausen makes Wagner look like a pussy" but decided it was a bit rude. I thought "makes him look safe" would get the idea across that the new generation had more balls despite Wagner having very sizable balls, even though he was a horrible horrible man.
No, that's true. Only ... Stockhausen was of the generation after the generation that rejected the Bayreuth idolatry. I'd say Schoenberg made Wagner look like a pussy, and Stockhausen made Schoenberg look like ... well, a serialist. [EDIT:] Which was such a conceptual dead-end that Stockhausen pretty much had to invent electronic music, for lack of anywhere else to go.

[mattx110]

No, that's true. Only ... Stockhausen was of the generation after the generation that rejected the Bayreuth idolatry. I'd say Schoenberg made Wagner look like a pussy, and Stockhausen made Schoenberg look like ... well, a serialist. [EDIT:] Which was such a conceptual dead-end that Stockhausen pretty much had to invent electronic music, for lack of anywhere else to go.
I only have experience really with the more "traditional" side of Stockhausen. Not so much the electronic, which seems to be his big claim to fame. I just haven't gotten to that side of music yet. As one of these hep punk kids, I'm trying to make sure I feel confidant in the tonal realm and a bit old school. I've only got a passing knowledge (maybe C+) of this whole world of Moog synth and reprogramming radios and theremins and such.

I'll get around to it in 10 years or so... maybe 15...

[rick]

I'm no expert on Stockhausen, but what I have heard over the years was pretty interesting.

He was amazingly talented.

And better yet, the true intellectual as composer.

Paul, on this occasion, I truly envy you.

[Paul McEnery]

I'm no expert on Stockhausen, but what I have heard over the years was pretty interesting.

He was amazingly talented.

And better yet, the true intellectual as composer.

Paul, on this occasion, I truly envy you.

Don't envy me. Envy my colleague Ken Hollings, who covered him for The Wire. Got to go hiking with the man up some German mountain. Stockhausen apparently took a liking to him, because he leant over conspiratorially to whisper: You can call me Sirius.

[berk]

Oh, it's easy to get the CDs. If you're a gazillionaire.

See, Karlheinz bought the rights back, and put the whole lot out himself, in deluxe formats, at German prices. Now the packaging is delightful, but still...Unless the packaging jumps out and commences a live performance of one of those multi-media operas of his, not sure I can justify the expense to myself. But I'll probably end up breaking down and allowing myself one pricey cd per year or something.

[Paul McEnery]

Unless the packaging jumps out and commences a live performance of one of those multi-media operas of his, not sure I can justify the expense to myself. But I'll probably end up breaking down and allowing myself one pricey cd per year or something.

Fortunately, they carry a fair number at Amoeba, so one can, er, amortize one's costs.

OTOH, if I were a great big moneybags, I'd keep the lot on its own special shelf of geek pride, along with the special Stockhausen music box of my own astrological theme.

[berk]

Fortunately, they carry a fair number at Amoeba, so one can, er, amortize one's costs.

OTOH, if I were a great big moneybags, I'd keep the lot on its own special shelf of geek pride, along with the special Stockhausen music box of my own astrological theme.Damn, for a second there I thought Amoeba had did online ordering, but from the website it appears not.