Stimmung

Not out on CD? But I distinctly remember borrowing it from the library.
Here's some evidence:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002ZHD/qid%3D918565061/002-371565
1-6358456

Thanks Graham!!!

Graham Breed wrote:

> From: Graham Breed <g.breed@tpg.co.uk>
>
> Not out on CD? But I distinctly remember borrowing it from the library.
> Here's some evidence:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002ZHD/qid%3D918565061/002-371565
> 1-6358456
>
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I took the opportunity to hear a performance of Stockhausen's Stimmung
at the newly refurbished and rather grand Usher Hall in Edinburgh. The
recital was part of the Edinburgh International Festival and, as far as
I can ascertain, was one of only two items of (intentional) non 12-tet
music on the programme. The other was an all night performance of Raga
which included the great Hariprasad Chaurasia among the musicians.
Unfortunately I missed that one. : - (

Both these and other recitals began at 1030pm and cost exactly �5.00 as
part of a new initiative to attract a younger audience. For that
princely sum you could have heard Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen, Mozart's
Divertimento K563, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde or Bach's Goldberg
Variations to name but a few items, and all performed by top
professionals.

I plagiarise parts of the programme notes for the following introduction
: -

Stockhausen wrote Stimmung (Tuning) in the winter of1968 in Madison,
Connecticut just after a visit to Mexico. Stimmung is inspired by his
Mexican experiences and by the more mundane constraints of a housebound
existence during a cold snap with two small children. Purportedly the
first major Western composition to be based solely on vocal harmonics,
Stimmung uses specific overtones produced when singing a fundamental (B
flat). Stockhausen chose six pitches - harmonics 2,3,4,5,7 and 9 - and
then took overtones from those six pitches to create a further six
harmonic series. This would make an interesting multi-dimensional
lattice for those of that inclination. Intoning phonetic sounds, there
are also other elements intertwined amongst the 51 sections. There are
29 magic names - gods both ancient and modern - as well as days of the
week (a forerunner of Stockhausen's ongoing seven-day operatic cycle).
Also included are five pieces of erotic poetry.

Now to the performance. The six singers, 2s, 1ms, 2t, 1b enter wearing
loose white cotton pyjamas and sit in a semicircle on white cushions.
Apart from their individual microphones and a cassette player to set the
fundamental tone, the stage is empty.

The music is instantly identifiable if you have any familiarity with
Just Intonation. Sonorities are set up and varying textures explored,
much of the texture set by hand signals from individual singers in turn.
The bass and one of the tenors had obviously studied overtone singing
and managed to consistently produce the characteristic sound of this
impressive technique. Although the others all held their microphones
close to their cheeks and throats in an effort to coax overtones, they
were less successful. At first I put this down to the fact that the
lower voices would be richer in overtones being lower in the audible
spectrum, but later the mezzo-soprano began to 'catch' various partials,
so my tentative conclusion is that some were better prepared than
others. Maybe not - I'm unsure as to how much the technique is called
for throughout. One of the sopranos made up for her lack of overtone
technique by communicating effectively with the audience through
gesture, smile and movement.

This minor point along with a touch of operatic vibrato are my only
criticisms of what was a superlative reading of a complex and unique
score. Oh - add to that the presence of the ghetto blaster. A tanpura or
other acoustic drone would have been visually and aurally more
appropriate.

The piece moves slowly but never drags. Moments of humour arise at, say,
the sudden mention of a day of the week, the word taken up by the others
and thrown around on the different harmonic tones. A modernist reworking
of Haydn's surprises perhaps, bringing the same wry smiles and titters
from the audience. At times the sonorities were deeply satisfying in
themselves. And the pace and flow of the work ensure a constant shift of
attention.

Whatever else you might think of Stockhausen, this piece works with an
audience and I would thoroughly recommend to the serious composer of
microtonal or JI music that they sit down and listen to it score in hand
and try to learn from it. I came away feeling much more optimistic about
what singers might be able to produce given that this consort, although
professional, is much more at home with Byrd and Tallis. I yearn for a
specialist consort, but there is a serious gap in the repertoire.

Other reflections : -

Modernism can be fun and is obviously having a bit of a day out. I also
heard Boulez conducting Varese at the Proms.

The so-and-so who reviewed Stimmung could only point out how strange it
was for performers to wear white clothing (very 60s he said) and
concluded with the profound comment that the piece could have been given
a more contemporary slant by being performed faster. Still, nobody ever
builds statues of reviewers.

Kind Regards