Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928—2007) was probably the most important composer of his generation – a generation which was itself one of the most revolutionary in the history of music. He and his colleagues (John Cage, Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio, Henri Pousseur, …) set out to create a completely new musical language, untainted by the “cultural heritage” which had led Europe and mankind into two world wars, to the Holocaust and to Hiroshima. Their main weapon was to be the “serial” technique originally proposed by Arnold Schönberg, but taken to extremes of which Arnold would never have approved.

Another weapon was to be the new technology of electronic reproduction, which offered the composer a way to communicate with the audience without any other human invention. Stockhausen was a pioneer both of electronic music itself and of ways to connect electronic music with live performers, naturalistic sounds, and stage action. The pieces we hear this evening are all milestones in the history of electronic music, imbued with the “strange beauty” which permeates so much of his work.

Like many innovators, Stockhausen wrote many theoretical essays and polemics, giving rise to the misconception that his music is academic or cerebral. In fact nothing could be further from the truth – every one of his compositions leads us into a fascinating sound world with its own natural laws and cosmology, which were as great a source of wonder to him as they are to us. In this concert we will explore three of those worlds, and as Stockhausen himself would say: have a good trip!