Stockhausen!

Stockhausen!

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on August 31, 2015 at 20:59:33

OK, I've been holding off on commenting about Vanessa Benelli Mosell's new Decca recording featuring the piano music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. As I never tire of quoting, Stockhausen himself claimed that "she [Vanessa] has the ability to make people like my music." But having lived with this recording for over a month now, I'm not so sure the composer's optimism was warranted. Listening to the Stockhausen works on this album is the most concentrated immersion in Stockhausen's music I've experienced so far, and yet I'm still more convinced than ever by the apocryphal story attributed to Sir Thomas Beecham, who, when asked if he had heard any Stockhausen, is said to have replied, "No, but I believe I have trodden in some." (The source for this is Lebrecht - which means it is almost certainly NOT true. Nevertheless, it's something that Beecham SHOULD have said!)

On a more realistic note, there's Robert Craft's 1968 interview with Stravinsky, who stated:

I have been listening all week to the piano music of a composer now greatly esteemed for his ability to stay an hour or so ahead of his time, but I find the alternation of note-clumps and silences of which it consists more monotonous than the foursquares of the dullest eighteenth-century music.

Later, it was claimed that Stravinsky was referring to the academician followers of Stockhausen, but IMHO Stravinsky's words could just as easily apply to the music of Stockhausen himself.

And what is one to say of all the rock and jazz performers who claim Stockhausen as an influence? (People like Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead, and even the Beatles, who pictured Stockhausen as one of the personages on the cover of their Sgt. Pepper album!) Well, bless their hearts! I can't help but think these folks were so eager to establish their "rebel" and "maverick" credentials that they tried to grasp at the most avant-garde names in culture without knowing very much about what it was that they they were grasping. Sure, I know about "A Day in the Life" and "Revolution No. 9", but these examples seem so trite and beside the point in those songs as a whole that it's impossible for me to consider these "influences" as anything other than trivial.

The one saving grace is that when I listen to this album, I'm using HQ Player as the playback software for the 24/96 file I downloaded, and it allows me to blow up the album cover to almost the full size of my 65" Panasonic plasma - Yowza!

As for the rest of the album, the Beffa suite is not bad, although I can imagine it sounding too "conventional late 20th century" for some. And as for the Stravinsky "Petrouchka" scenes, I was looking forward to having a "battle of the babes" between Vanessa and Yuja - but then I found to my dismay that I don't actually have Yuja's recording. (I must have heard Yuja on Spotify - which I no longer subscribe to anymore.) There's no one who enjoys a good "battle of the babes" competition than I do, but the Vanessa/Yuja competition in "Petrouchka" will have to wait until I can get a good quality incarnation of the latter's recording!

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Topic - Stockhausen! - Chris from Lafayette 20:59:33 08/31/15 (32)

"the ability to make people like my music" - Newey 19:48:08 09/18/15 (0)

Stockhausen and 9/11 - jsch3 06:16:33 09/11/15 (1)

Yup - everything you mention is unfortunately true - Chris from Lafayette 16:07:39 09/13/15 (0)

" I can't help but think these folks were so eager to establish their "rebel" and "maverick" credentials that - Timbo in Oz 19:01:03 09/01/15 (1)

Timbo - Thanks for the edit! - Chris from Lafayette 19:08:05 09/01/15 (0)

Miles Davis was hugely influenced by Stockhausen... - semuta 15:46:50 09/01/15 (2)

Under the influence is more like it - genungo 15:57:25 09/02/15 (0)

Miles was hugely influenced by many things..... - andy evans 15:50:14 09/01/15 (0)

RE: Stockhausen! - rbolaw 11:16:56 09/01/15 (8)

Stockhausen - Mantra - Chris from Lafayette 13:10:55 09/01/15 (7)

RE: Stockhausen - Mantra - rbolaw 15:34:35 09/01/15 (6)

Along those lines, what's wrong with the Kontarskys? - Chris from Lafayette 16:30:25 09/01/15 (5)

The Kontarskys were outstanding - rbolaw 16:47:16 09/01/15 (4)

RE: The Kontarskys were outstanding - oldmkvi 00:01:50 09/02/15 (0)

Yes - Pollini is outstanding in the Stravinsky too (I have his recording) - Chris from Lafayette 17:59:24 09/01/15 (2)

I think Pollini used to be so cute.... - kuma 21:10:54 09/03/15 (0)

RE: Yes - Pollini is outstanding in the Stravinsky too (I have his recording) - PAR 17:52:52 09/02/15 (0)

Isn't that what Patty Hearst had? (nt) - mkuller 09:47:40 09/01/15 (1)

Or - kavakidd 23:27:06 09/01/15 (0)

I heard the Beecham Stockhausen story decades ago, when... - John Marks 07:43:37 09/01/15 (6)

RE: I heard the Beecham Stockhausen story decades ago, when... - Todd Krieger 00:36:18 09/02/15 (1)

A Match made in Heaven!!! nt - oldmkvi 11:37:13 09/02/15 (0)

I must say - kavakidd 23:28:55 09/01/15 (0)

Beecham stops the Orch and says ( you need to imagine his heavy Brit accent), - oldmkvi 08:11:54 09/01/15 (2)

He supposedly told one section of the orchestra - John Marks 08:27:08 09/01/15 (1)

I LOVE his dry British Wit! nt - oldmkvi 08:44:19 09/01/15 (0)

The vacant stare of a super model should have been a hint... - Paul_A 04:42:27 09/01/15 (2)

Sure - but this is a super model pianist with the imprimatur of the composer - Chris from Lafayette 09:45:10 09/01/15 (0)

To quote Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbs, - oldmkvi 08:13:41 09/01/15 (0)

Stockhausen's Music is extremely varied. nt - oldmkvi 01:30:07 09/01/15 (2)

True - I was referring only to the clumps of tones and silences of the piano music [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 09:51:59 09/01/15 (1)

Clumps and Silences- Most Modern Composers have gone through that Stage... - oldmkvi 11:39:28 09/02/15 (0)

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