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Home , Aus den sieben Tagen, Cosmic Pulses, Earle Brown, Formula composition, Hymnen, Intuitive music

stockha sen  un i v e r s i t y o f c o l o r a d o @ b o u l d e r

Wednesday, 29 September Concert, 7:30 p.m. grusin hall, imig music building

Thursday, 30 September with generous support from Colloquium, 4:00 p.m. black box theater, President’s Fund for the Humanities atlas building , The Atlas Institute Friday, 1 October The James L. D. and Rebecca Roser Concert, 7:30 p.m. Visiting Artist Fund black box theater, atlas building

Sunday, 3 October Sound Demonstration 2:00 p.m. black box theater, atlas building + Concert, 4:00 p.m. black box theater, atlas building Welcome from the Dean Message from the Artistic Director The College of Music at the University of For many years after my first personal encounter with Stockhausen in 2001, I Colorado is proud to host the Stockhausen dreamed of organizing a festival of his music in my home country. Stockhausen’s 2010 Festival. The programs we have works – 375 in number at the time of his passing – constitute one of the largest, assembled showcase some of the finest most innovative, and arguably greatest repertoires of music from the recent past. aspects of our College, ranging from But what was immediately apparent to me nine years ago was the way that talented faculty and student performers, to Stockhausen’s creations – for they often go far beyond the notion of “music” highly skilled sound engineers, to advanced alone – often suggest fruitful ways for musicians, artists, scholars and technicians scholars and researchers. But most of all, to come together and collaborate in concert for a common goal. This festival is bringing Stockhausen’s music to our College not just about forging musical, artistic and social bonds; the sheer crazyiness, demonstrates our strong committment to daring, eclecticism and exquisite beauty of his music are perfectly matched to the exploring new, challenging and unfamiliar unique environment of Boulder, Colorado. This is music that belongs here. realms of musical creation. Stockhausen’s works require an immense amount of preparation, technical Our connection with Stockhausen dates equipment, rehearsal and committment from musicians. In today’s financial back to 1958, when the gave a climate, it is next to impossible to organize a festival that would meet lecture here during his first breakneck tour of Stockhausen’s high standards in the United States. Fortunately, the University of our country. We are delighted to be able to Colorado and many generous individuals have provided a great deal of support reconnect with the composer’s legacy by for this project. Just as important, the College of Music has had the foresight inviting four renowned experts on his music over the years to invest in many pieces of high-quality infrastructure that have to our College. For an entire week they will contributed to this undertaking. And, our extremely talented faculty and perform, coach, lecture and advise us in this students are a uniquely qualified resource, never backing down from a challenge unusual musical repertoire. Special thanks that may at first seem impossible to achieve. are due to the Stockhausen Foundation for helping to sponsor the festival, and to the The festival benefits our community far beyond the concerts and lectures you various funds at the University, without will hear. Our four invited guests, who are all deeply invested in Stockhausen’s which none of this would have been possible. music, come to us from Seattle, Atlanta, Pforzheim, and Berlin. They will be working alongside our students, staff, and faculty, sharing their knowledge and We are confident that our festival will spark expertise for an entire week. more of what the College is already known for throughout this country: excellence in Even if you do not enjoy all the performances you experience, I hope that you performance, scholarship, experimentation, will at least be able to marvel at the possibilities that Stockhausen’s music and innovation. Enjoy the show. suggest, and the committment we have made to try to bring this unusual and challenging artwork to you. As Karlheinz used to say: Have a good trip! Dean Daniel Sher Paul Miller

Without the support of the following organizations and individuals, this festival would not have been successful. Therefore, our deepest thanks & gratitude go to:

The President’s Fund for the Humanities, The James L. D. and Rebecca Roser Visiting Artist Fund, cmap, The Atlas Institute, and the Musicology & Music Theory Colloquium Fund.

Glenn Arndt (engineering & logistics), Gayle Sher (Dean, College of Music), Boethling (scheduling & logistics), Dan Boord Stephen Slater (scheduling & (Film Studies), John Drumheller (engineering & logistics), Michael Theodore housing), Laima Haley (publicity), Eric Harbeson (engineering), and Alex Vittal & (library & research), Kevin Harbison (engineering), Friends (housing). Peggy Hinton (logistics), Regina Houck (accounting), Myra Jackson (scheduling & Special thanks is due to the over fifty logistics), Professors Jennings, Nguyen, and Silver undergraduate and graduate students (performance), Mary Jungerman (housing), Ira Liss who are performing on the three (publicity), Kellie Masterson (design & concerts. Their names are listed either construction), Gary McCrumb (engineering), Paul in a program book insert, or at the Miller (artistic director), Ron Mueller (CU ), end of the program notes for the John Peterson & Amanda Samuelson (exhibit), concert on which they are Tom Robbins (design & construction), Daniel performing.

2 Introduction to the Festival

Perhaps no other composer active after the Second World notated score using Stockhausen’s “blueprint.” Later process War has been as influential as . Artists compositions, such as (1967), (1968), and and as diverse as Helmut Lachenmann, Harrison (1968) employ simpler notation, and eventually led Birtwistle, Charles Mingus, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, and Stockhausen to explore “.” The earliest example the Grateful Dead have all acknowledged Stockhausen’s of Stockhausen’s intuitive music, (1968), influence on their own music. Miles Davis commented that “I employs a collection of texts that describes abstract processes had always written in a circular way, and through Stockhausen without the use of any signs at all. I could see that I didn’t want to ever play again from eight bars to eight bars,” while Björk asserted that “when Karlheinz By the end of the 1960s, Stockhausen’s reputation had grown harnessed electricity into sound and showed the rest of us, he outside avant-garde circles, and he returned to more sparked off a sun that is still burning, and will glow for a conventionally notated scores. In many works of the next long time.” decade, such as (1970), a singable melodic complex governs the work. This complex, or “formula,” may be While many critics acknowledge the importance of comprised of a single-, double-, or triple-line that also Stockhausen’s music before 1970, few have recognized the specifies other musical parameters such as pitch, dynamics, numerous later works that are also worthy of attention. In duration, , and . (1977 – 2003), Stockhausen’s making program decisions for our festival, we have sought to monumental operatic cycle comprised of seven individual remedy this bias. Alongside some early classics, we also present each based on a day of the week, is an example of the some representative later works that we consider to be among extreme to which Stockhausen took ; a his more important achievements. one-minute “superformula” is expanded to over twenty-nine hours of music. The flexibility of this technique is perhaps best Karlheinz Stockhausen was born on 22 August 1928, in demonstrated in the Helicopter String Quartet (1993) from the Mödrath near , Germany. From 1947 – 1951, Wednesday opera, in which each member of the string quartet Stockhausen attended Cologne’s Musikhochschule, where he performs in a helicopter that completes an individual flight studied music education, , and composition. Subsequently, plan near the theater. Live audio and video are transmitted to he studied with in . While almost all of the audience in the concert hall. Stockhausen’s compositions employ serial techniques, his early works were often described as “point” or “constellation” music, Following the completion of Licht, Stockhausen began another an aesthetic which was probably inspired by Messiaen and the ambitious project in 2003. was to be a cycle of twenty- Belgian composer . is a four compositions, one for each hour in the day. Stockhausen compositional technique in which some continuous perceptual noted that Klang represented a return to “,” a continuum is quantized, and the individual quantized elements technique that he pioneered in the 1960s with compositions are ordered according to a pre-determined row or series. In such as (1961-64), (1964), and (1951), both pitch and are determined in this (1966). Perhaps as a way of responding to the teleological way, demonstrating Stockhausen’s interest in going beyond the aspect of most earlier music, moment form involves earlier technique of twelve-tone music, where only pitch is composing episodes that are not necessarily temporally related ordered. Around this time, Stockhausen also wrote Gesang der to one another, and may even sometimes be reordered in a Jünglinge (1955-56), a work that many scholars believe performance. In practice, however, one particular ordering is established the viability of . In (1959- usually chosen. After completing twenty-one of the pieces of 60), Stockhausen added spatialization to the perceptual his Klang cycle, Stockhausen died suddenly at his home in domains he tried to serialize. Spatialization, an integral part of December 2007. Stockhausen’s craft, denotes the composer’s attempt to compose the movement of sound through and around the , an important twentieth-century English performance space. composer who is still active, doubts that there has been a single composer of the last half of the twentieth century “who, Instead of determining the events themselves, a serial “number even if for a short time, did not see the world of music square” determines the degree of transformation from one differently thanks to the work of Stockhausen.” Even today, event to another in Kontakte. This idea of determining the Stockhausen’s music continues to be influential, which is amount of change from one event to the next inspired perhaps due in part to the theatricality that pervades much of Stockhausen’s “process compositions,” which involve a score it. Whether it is this theatricality, the innovative soundscapes that acts as a blueprint for the performer. The score, Stockhausen creates, or some other aspect of his work that sometimes consisting only of plus, minus, or equal signs, endures, we hope you enjoy this unique and exciting festival! describes the transformations the performer is to make to the musical material, allowing for many different “correct” John Peterson performances of a work. Indeed, the complexity involved in realizing Plus-Minus (1963), the first such process composition, usually prompts the performer to make a more conventionally

3 Concert 1 internal rhythm of breathing. All of this is to say that the With duration of musical elements in these works is a function of Wednesday, 29 September, 7:30 p.m. the resonating qualities of the instrument, the hall, and the Grusin Hall, Imig Music Building performer’s own body. Stockhausen believed that he was on the path to discovering something new in Natural Durations Natürliche Dauern 10 (2005/6) Karlheinz Stockhausen because the time spans that many different pianists found Frank Gutschmidt, piano [10:00] were often very similar. The first of the pieces we will hear tonight, Natural Durations 10, was dedicated to our pianist, Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951) Frank Gutschmidt. Alejandro Gomez, conductor [5:30] The American composer John Cage (1912 – 1992) grew up in Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/6) Stockhausen Los Angeles and attended Pomona College in Claremont. [13:00] After studying with in , Cage returned to Los Angeles where he worked under Arnold Natürliche Dauern 15 Stockhausen Schoenberg in 1934; it was probably this encounter with the Frank Gutschmidt, piano [8:30] inspiring elder European composer that ultimately drove Cage to pursue a career in composition. Stockhausen invited Cage Intermission to give a lecture in in 1958, and the two immediately began a long and fruitful friendship. Module I/II (1967) Unfortunately, Stockhausen’s measured support of the Paul Miller & Alejandro Gomez, conductors [~10:00] American led to rifts with his European colleagues and . Stockhausen felt close to Cage’s Fantasy-Improvisation on / music even in his later years, and some of the more “Poem for Chairs, Tables, Elizabeth Comninellis/ lighthearted moments of their friendship are documented in Benches, Etc.” (1960/2010) Mary Mixter photographs in our exhibition. [~5:37.68] Cage’s work Imaginary Landscape No. 4 is a piece for twelve Komet (1994/1999) Stockhausen radios. Each radio is controlled by two performers: one Stuart Gerber, percussion [16:00] operates the tuner and the other regulates the volume. The work is a brilliant demonstration of the way in which specific sounds can be irrelevent within a rhythmic structure. It seems The first concert of the Stockhausen Festival presents a variety like Cage is trying to tell us that even sounds drawn from the of Stockhausen’s own music, intertwined with works of electromagnetic waves around us can be integrated into a American composers who knew him personally. Most of merely by their ordering in time. Stockhausen’s American students encountered him at the Darmstadt Courses, which still take place near the city of Earle Brown (1926 – 2002) began his career as a musician Frankfurt. We hope that by presenting these works side-by- and hoped to pursue studies in aeronautics. He studied side, it will be possible to hear relationships among the engineering and mathematics at Northeastern University and different composers’ pieces. Also, Stockhausen’s music may be subsequently joined the Army Air Corps. During his studies better understood when set into relief with his colleagues. at the Schillinger School of Music in Boston from 1946 – 50, Brown became interested in the art of Jackson Pollock and Natürliche Dauern [Natural Durations] is a cycle of twenty- Alexander Calder. Brown moved to Denver in 1950 with his four pieces for piano which Stockhausen composed in 2005 wife, and taught composition here until 1952. Subsequently, he and 2006. It is the “hour” of his last work-cycle, called moved to New York where he collaborated extensively with Klang. Many of Stockhausen’s earlier piano pieces from the John Cage. 1950s were dense, complex and chromatic works. It came as something as a shock – and ultimately, revelation – to many Because of his contact with Cage and the American pianist listeners when they heard the first piece in the cycle, which , Brown soon became known in Europe. During a was premiered in New York City on a frigid February day in trip to Europe in 1956 and subsequent lectures at Darmstadt in 2006. Unlike his earlier piano pieces, Natural Durations was 1964 – 65, Brown became friends with Stockhausen. Later, restful, medatative, and at peace with itself; almost Brown held faculty positions at the Peabody Conservatory in remeniscent of the lucious Messiaen used to paint a Baltimore, SUNY Buffalo, the California Institute of the Arts, picture of the sun rising in his monumental cycle of piano and . He also directed the Fromm Weeks of pieces Catalogue d’Oiseaux [Catalogue of the Birds]. New Music in Aspen, Colorado from 1985 – 1990. Brown won many prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. The idea behind Natural Durations is to delay the entries of new tones until previous sounds die away. In some pieces from Module I/II is a work in which two groups of instrumentalists the cycle, the durations are determined by the performer’s own each have a repertoire of twenty cells. Each cell can contain

4 notes or rest. However, neither the specific ordering of the Meyer-Eppler. Although some critics have taken Stockhausen cells, nor their dynamic balance or playing techniques are to task for making the boy’s voice sound “unnatural,” the determined. For our performance, we held true to Brown’s composer envisioned the technique as a way of liberating precise musical instructions in the score, but slightly sound from the singer’s natural limitations. The text reads: reconceptualized the theatrical aspect. Whereas the original score calls for a rather inconspiculous slider to indicate the O all works of the Lord, praise (exult in) the Lord – correct page to play, we use placards reminiscent of political laud Him and exalt Him above all forever. protests. By analyzing the structure of Brown’s chords, we were able to trace a path through the composition that makes O angels of the Lord, praise the Lord – effective use of the dissonant or consonant qualities of the O heavens, praise the Lord. given musical material. While Brown’s innovative use of indeterminacy is remeniscent of some of Cage’s ideas, his own O all waters that be above the heavens, approach to composition ultimately leaves less to chance than praise the Lord – his older American colleague, and opens up opportunities for a O all hosts of the Lord, praise the Lord. stimulating encounter with his well-crafted musical material. O sun and moon, praise the Lord – La Monte Young (b. 1935) grew up in Idaho where he learned O stars of heaven, praise the Lord. cowboy songs on the guitar from his aunt. He also played music with his father, Dennis, who was a sheep-herder. Young O every shower and dew, praise the Lord – attended college in Los Angeles and performed in and O all winds, praise the Lord. jazz bands throughout the 1950s. After studying with Leonard Stein and Robert Stevenson, Young composed O fire and heat of summer, praise the Lord – his Trio for Strings (1958). This work, which consists entirely of O cold and hard winter, praise the Lord. long notes and rests, is considered one of the first pieces in which traits of American “” can be recognized. O dew and storms and rainfall, praise the Lord – O ice and frost, praise the Lord Young encountered Stockhausen in 1959 at Darmstadt. He also met David Tudor there. Subsequently, he studied in New York O hoar frost and snow, praise the Lord – City, where he organized a concert series at Yoko Ono’s studio. O nights and days, praise the Lord. Young’s fascination with and research into extremely long musical notes – called drones – resulted in his epic masterpiece O light and darkness, praise the Lord – The Well-Tuned Piano, which (at its last performance in 1987) O lightning and clouds, praise the Lord. lasted approximately 384 minutes. Stockhausen’s work Komet [Comet] is an adaptation of a Young’s Poem for Chairs, Tables, Benches, Etc. is a challenging section of his Friday opera, called Kinderkrieg [Children’s War]. work. Performers determine the length of the piece through In this scene, two opposing armies of children fight a horrific random processes; it can last anywhere from 0 minutes to battle on stage. One group carries modern weapons, while the several days. Since the range of durations is impractical for our other employs more simple weapons such as spears, sticks, concert performance, we have decided to create a “Fantasy- bows, clubs and stones. After several minutes of battle, a Improvisation” on the work, perhaps taking inspiration from gigantic rhinoceros comes barreling onstage and chases the Liszt’s masterful improvisations on works of Italian lyric children away, ending the scene. opera. By reconceiving the Poem primarily as a theatrical piece, we will be making musical structures with colorful chairs, In Comet, the childrens’ parts are sung by , tables and benches throughout Grusin Hall. It seems to us one of Stockhausen’s longtime collaborators. The percussionist that Young’s piece provides a wonderful opportunity to open must choose several recorded samples, which are played during up and explore our newly reinvogorated and renovated concert the piece. Stockhausen directed the percussionist to choose space in a way that probably did not occur to its designers. samples of the sounds of children’s toys. Based on the toy sounds and the pitches audible in the electronic music, the Stockhausen’s electronic work Gesang der Jünglinge [Song of percussionist improvises new music. the Youths] is based on the story from the Book of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzer throws Shadrach, Meshach, and In earlier days, the appearance of a comet in the sky often Abednego into a firey furnace. The three are miraculously suggested impending doom. The bells that toll in Comet also perserved and sing praises to God. In Stockhausen’s piece, a bring to mind the idea of the apocalypse. Despite this, boy soprano sang texts which were recorded onto tape. The Stockhausen often remarked that he wished the percussion tape was then cut and reassembled according to a scale of version of Comet to have an element of playfulness. Certainly seven degrees of intelligibility. This idea probably came from the samples chosen by our percussionist tonight, Stuart Stockhausen’s studies in Bonn with the phoneticist Werner Gerber, reflect the composer’s desire.

5 Concert 2 school of music. In the piano version, the score specifies that Friday, 1 October, 7:30 p.m. the musician must “demonstrate his ability to quickly change Black Box Theater, ATLAS Building expression and his art of polyphonic interpretation.” Of course, in the opera, Michael impresses the judges and easily wins entry to the conservatory. Klavierstück XII (1979/83) Karlheinz Stockhausen Frank Gutschmidt, piano [22:00] The cycle of fifteen pieces of “intuitive” music called Aus den sieben Tagen [From the Seven Days] arose after several years of Setz die Segel zur Sonne Stockhausen Stockhausen’s experiments with so-called “process” music. In from Aus den sieben Tagen (1968) [~10:00] process compositions, the exact musical material is not always CU Boulder for Intuitive Music specified; rather, transformations to that material form the Intermission score. Sometimes, scores of contain little more than plus, minus, and equal signs. But, after years of Toccatina (1986) Helmut Lachenmann performing process music with his close-knit group of Sarah Wood, violin [4:00] collaborators, Stockhausen decided to eliminate even the plus, minus and equal signs from his next work; all that was left was Kontakte (1958–60) Stockhausen a poem, or text, that described a particular musical process. [35:30] Musicians were supposed to play together intuitively, as opposed to intellectually. By avoiding any kind of musical cliché, the musicians could – in theory – rise up to a higher Where does a composer leave off, and an interpreter take over? level of existence, communicating almost telepathically with This question comes up many times in the historical canon of one another through space. Western music. Early Medieval singers were known to embellish and elaborate upon to such an extent that The text from Setz die Segel zur Sonne [Set Sail for the Sun] manuscript versions of the same chant often differ in many seems to describe just such a musical process. details of transcription. In the early days of polyphony, musicians improvised counterpoint (e. g. Tinctoris’s cantare play a tone for so long super librum, English faburdon, etc.) Closer to our own time, until you hear its individual vibrations composers may leave a considerable amount of their musical creation to chance; the most notorious example, of course, is hold the tone John Cage’s 4’33”. For many people, Cage’s work already and listen to the tones of the others crosses the line beyond which the word “work” has little – to all of them together, not to individual ones – meaning. Many so-called popular repertoires, such as and slowly move your tone Appalachian fiddling, rely more on the aural transmission of until you arrive at complete information than the reading of musical scores. It may actually and the whole sound turns to gold seem the exception, rather than the rule, that a composer to pure, gently shimmering fire produces a score, with all the notes written down, set in ink, on some semi-permanant non-volatile medium such as paper. As our ensemble of extremely talented graduate students Tonight’s concert involves several works which barely, if at all, rehearsed this piece, it occured to them that Set Sail for the Sun seem to exist in any sort of traditional way; as “intuitive is possibly made up of at least four distinct processes which music,” or with extremely unconventional notation, or as direct the player to gradually expand his or her awareness or electronically generated sounds. conciousness. First, the direction to “play a tone” seems to be aimed at the individual player alone. But once the individual’s Perhaps the most traditional work is first on our program: tone is set, the musician must listen to the tones of others, and, Klavierstück XII [Piano Piece 12]. Stockhausen had not for the first time focus attention on others. Next, the players written a work in his cycle of piano pieces since 1957, with the fuse their tones together in “complete harmony;” attention is famously polyvalent Piano Piece 11. Piano Piece 12 originated directed now on the group as a whole. Finally, the enigmatic as a scene from Stockhausen’s Thursday opera (1978 – 80) called instruction to turn the whole sound to gold seems somehow to Examen [Examination]. The whole Thursday opera is suggest that the players aim for something even higher than concerned with the archangel Michael, who – in Stockhausen’s the group itself; for something universal, cosmic, transcendent. view of the cosmos – is an important spirit-personality. The Perhaps “the sun” here refers not only to our own local star, but story of Michael is cast as a semi-autobiographical tale of to stars around us in the local universe as well. Stockhausen’s youth. The section called Examination is really a lengthy piece that Stockhausen composed for his son, During our ensemble’s many rehearsals of Set Sail for the Sun, I Markus. Here, Michael is played by three performers witnessed an astonishing growth in the way our four simultaneously: a tenor, trumpeter, and a dancer. The other exceptional musicians listened to each other, reacted, created, personalities in Licht – namely, Eve and Lucifer – are also and grew themselves. These texts, which seem strange at first, played by multiple artists at the same time. In Examination, seem to contain the seeds for something quite profound. Michael plays an audition to obtain admission to an advanced

6 Helmut Lachenmann is considered by many as A memorable moment in Kontakte comes about seventeen minutes one of the leading composers of our time. Born in through the piece. A sound begins as a high-frequency pitch; then, as it Stuttgart in 1935, Lachenmann studied primarily slides downwards in frequency, it disintegrates into clicks, or rhythm. A with the Italian composer Luigi Nono, but also further stage in the process begins when reverberation is added to the worked with Stockhausen at Darmstadt. In 1997, clicks, and it is lengthened out in time; here, it becomes timbre, or he won the Ernst Siemens Music Prize, considered sound color. With this dramatic gesture, Stockhausen tried to show the “Nobel Prize” of composition. He describes his “contacts” among different perceptual domains. What better way to music as musique concrète instrumentale, indicating accomplish this than to have a single event cross several realms of that it opens up a world of sound made possible auditory perception! through unconventional playing techniques. In what scholars such as Claus-Steffan Mahnkopf see as an important characteristic of a second avant- garde, Lachenmann often specifies an action in his score, but not necessarily a result.

The violinst playing Lachenmann’s Toccatina must read a special violin clef, where the staff lines no longer indicate the notes to play, but rather the place on the violin to play*. Sometimes the violinst taps on the string with the metal part of the bow- screw; sometimes she bows on the pegs or tailpiece. Although this can seem somewhat disorienting at first, Lachenmann’s ideas have been highly influential among a younger generation of musicians, such as the JACK quartet. Composers such as Aaron Cassidy have pursued his ideas even further with considerable critical success.

Stockhausen’s Kontakte [Contacts] is a work that can be performed in several different ways. First, it is an all-electronic piece for four-channel quadrophonic projection. Second, it can be heard with live piano and percussion. In this version, Stockhausen tried to relate the sounds of live musicians with electronic sounds, an idea which is reflected in the work’s title. Third, a version exists for theatrical production, called [Originals]. According to one critic who heard the premiere, this version contains several traits of the controversial absurdist theater.

One of the most spectacular aspects of Kontakte is its use of the space around listeners. The electronic sounds recorded on the four-channel electronic tape spin around listeners, or cut across the A part of the score to Kontakte performance space from one end to another. Sounds which begin in one area vanish and reappear in another. Stockhausen accomplished y many of these effects with a special rotation table. * The entire score for Lachenmann’s Toccatina can be viewed in our A single directional speaker is mounted on a large exhibition, located in the Imig Music Building, room c-113. circular table. Pre-recorded electronic music is played through the speaker. Four are placed around the table. When the table is turned, y the microphones record the spatialized sound. This CU Boulder Ensemble for Intuitive Music innovative design eliminated phase problems in the spatialization which plagued composers in the days Stephanie Mientka, viola; Daniel Miller, trumpet; before digital synthesis. Andrew Stonerock, ; Matthew Witherow, piano; Paul Miller, coach

7 Colloquium listening to change in Stockhausen’s music. Is Thursday, 30 September, 4:00 p.m. there some energetic, motivating factor that Black Box Theater, ATLAS Building causes movement from one element in the series to another? Does change occur gradually, or suddenly? One useful lens through which we Stockhausen, Serialism and Style John Peterson may approach these questions may be found in [~20:00] the theories of biology and morphology developed by Kielmeyer, Goethe and others in From Here to Where? Transition and Morphology in Paul Miller the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth the Compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen [~25:00] century. These pre-Darwinian theories of change in the natural world suggest musical analogies to Short Break understanding works that Stockhausen himself Jackson Pollock, Stockhausen, and the described as being like an organism – for Cosmic Voyage to Paradise [~40:00] example, the process pieces of the 1960s, including Kurzwellen [Short Waves]. Biological theories of metamorphosis are also useful in John Peterson, “Stockhausen, Serialism and Style.” understanding the theory of formula composition that Stockhausen developed. By Totaling more than 370 individually performable works, one of the most exploring Stockhausen’s theories through the intriguing aspects of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s compositional output is its ideas of morphology, we will gain a better range of stylistic diversity. Although almost all of his music is serial, much understanding of one of Stockhausen’s important of it uses additional techniques that determine the way in which the music compositional techniques. will be organized or realized. While these techniques are widely acknowledged within the scholarly literature that discusses Stockhausen’s music, they are not generally known outside academic circles. In my presentation, I will investigate a number of Stockhausen’s compositional styles by discussing the techniques that create such a diverse stylistic range. The broad scope of my paper will also allow me to introduce many of the important works in Stockhausen’s career. It is my hope that as the festival progresses, audience members may be able to identify some of the techniques that I discuss in my lecture.

Paul Miller, “From Here to Where? Transition and Morphology in the Compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen.” Spherical auditorium, Osaka, Japan (1970). Stockhausen’s art of transformation and musical metamorphosis range over Stockhausen’s works were performed here for 183 a broad field of techniques and a long list of works. In Stockhausen’s days to over a million listeners. concept of serialism, two extremes could be mitigated by inserting a set of intermediary points between them. How, though, does one “get” from one Jerome Kohl, “Jackson Pollock, Stockhausen, and point to another on such a continuum? This lecture will offer some ideas for the Cosmic Voyage to Paradise.”

When Jackson Pollock’s paintings were described as “chaos,” he reacted angrily: “No chaos, damn it!” While numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the methodical nature of his techniques, the question of the viewer’s reception remains open. Stockhausen’s last electronic work, , has similarly been described as chaotic, and moreover has been compared to Pollock’s work. An examination of both Pollock’s paintings and Stockhausen’s music, including the “analytical” series of eight pieces with electronic music that follow Cosmic Pulses in the Klang cycle, throw some light on the nature of chaos in art, and suggest some strategies for listening to music of such overwhelming density as Cosmic Pulses.

8 Please come visit the exhibition in the Imig Music Building, room c-113.

1. Stockhausen listening to music (at IRCAM, 1985) 23. Formscheme of Cosmic Pulses 2. Michael sign, spiral work list 24. Sketches and photograph from Cosmic Pulses 3. Creating , Friday sweater 25. Eve sign; credits. 4. Quites from Sri Aurobindo and the Urantia Book 5. Helicopter Quartet, studio work in 1955 6. Stockhausen & the Chickens; Lucifer sign 7. Klang circle; Natural Durations 8. Stockhausen with friends; La Monte Young 9. Earle Brown's Module I/II 1 10. Gesang der Jünglinge 2 3 11. Stuart Gerber; Komet 12. Superformula; Piano Piece 12 13. Aus den sieben Tagen: photos, scores 14. Stockhausen in the caves of Jeita, Lebanon (1969) 15. Stockhausen & the spherical auditorium (Osaka, 1970) 16. Originale (theatrical version of Kontakte) 4 5 6 17. Helmut Lachenmann & Toccatina 18. Kontakte: photos and score 19. Electronic Study No. 2: score, texts 20. Flautina: score, texts 21. Score and sketch of Kreuzspiel 22. Telemusik: score, Gagaku circuit, Temple photo

7 8 10 12 14

9 11 13

15 17 19 21 23

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9 Spatialization Demonstration & Concert 3 first, which has been the most thoroughly analyzed, employs a Sunday, 3 October, 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. novel serial technique. In a six-step process, pitches from the Black Box Theater, ATLAS Building beginning and end of the twelve-element row “migrate” to the center of the next row, pushing the remaining elements outwards. By the time we hear the sixth row, the original order 2:00 p.m. has been permuted so thoroughly that it is hard to hear any Spatialization Demonstration Bryan Wolf connection with the beginning. But then the process happens [60:00] in reverse, and in a second six-step process, order is recreated out of seeming chaos. The result of the entire twelve-step “crossplay” is that the first and last six-note segments of the Break original row are swapped. At the same time this is , the durations assigned to each pitch are permuted in a similar 4:00 p.m. way, as is the rhythmic structure of the percussion. Elektronische Studie II (1954) Karlheinz Stockhausen In addition to determining pitch and rhythm, Stockhausen [3:50] also ordered the register of the pitches in his rows. Towards the beginning of the first section, he employed the extremes of Kreuzspiel (1951) Stockhausen high and low, which are only playable by the piano. But as the [11:00] crossplay continues, the registral disposition moves towards the middle range. More notes fall into the range of the Telemusik (1966) Stockhausen and bass , and so the timbral profile shifts towards [17:30] these instruments. As the first section winds down, pitches Intermission migrate back towards registral extremes, and the sound of the Flautina (1989) Stockhausen piano again dominates. Christina Jennings, Flute [6:00] The second and third parts of Kreuzspiel are essentially Cosmic Pulses (2007) Stockhausen variations. In the second, slow movement, the process works [32:00] much like the first, except the oboe and begin and end in the central register and the piano reaches its extremes The works at the beginning and end of tonight’s program of high and low in the middle. The piano interjects widely- function something like bookends in the history of spaced chords that create a new timbral effect. To help set the Stockhausen’s electronic composition. Interspersed are two second section apart from the first, the percussionists shift instrumental pieces – both from very different times in from tom-toms and tumbas to cymbals. The third section is Stockhausen’s life – which remind us that electronic music was the most complex of the three. Here, the process from the first only one part of the composer’s enormous creative output. section happens backwards, but elements from the second section are superimposed around a central inversional axis. By Elektronische Studie II [Electronic Study No. 2] may seem at combining tom-toms and cymbals, the percussionists literally first to be an entirely synthetic work of electronic music. blend sounds from the two earlier sections. Indeed, it was one of the earliest pieces composed entirely out of sine waves. Each sound in Study No. 2 is made up of five Stockhausen’s attention to the spatial location of the sine waves. However, these sounds are treated in a very instruments in Kreuzspiel is noteworthy. By placing the oboe unusual way. Stockhausen cut five segments of tape, each with near the piano’s bass strings and the bass clarinet close to the a different sine wave on it. Then, he spliced these together in a treble, Stockhausen set up a registral checkerboard. From the loop, and played back the sound in a very reverberant room. audience’s perspective, the registral disposition is approximately Even though the work is made up of synthetic sounds, the (from left to right) high, low, high, low. The percussion imprint of a room’s acoustic is felt throughout the piece. instruments, located near the piano, are meant to create sympathetic resonance with it. Careful attention to the physical There are five distinct sections in Study No. 2. Perhaps the location of instruments within the performing space continued third one is the most memorable; here, each sound starts or to be a major factor in Stockhausen’s compositional trajectory. ends with a very strong attack. The texture can seem “pointillistic” at times during this section. The last complex of Telemusik [Telemusic] was a commission from the Japanese sounds also suggests a dramatic interpretation; it has been Broadcasting Corporation. With the help of several studio remarked by many that the piece ends with a kind of “low technicians, Stockhausen composed it in about a month in tympani roll.” For many, Stockhausen’s deft fusion of early 1966. Stockhausen’s encounter with Japanese culture mathematical rigor and his keen sense of drama is what makes during his first trip to Japan was profound and life-altering. pieces like Study No. 2 worth listening to. His experiences of the tea ceremony, temple music, and Noh theater changed his way of thinking about music. The sounds Kreuzspiel [Cross-Play] is made of three distinct sections. The of Japanese temple instruments can be heard in Telemusik, as

10 well as recorded samples of traditional Etenraku music. In Performers of Kreuzspiel addition, Stockhausen mixed together music of Bali, Vietnam, China, the Amazons, Spain and Hungary, “intermodulating” Aaron Bagby, Bryan Bolen and Jason Johnston, percussion; the samples in various ways. Intermodulation describes a Tenly Williams, oboe; Daniel Silver, bass clarinet; process in which one aspect of a sound is transformed by Alexandra Nguyen, piano; Paul Miller, conductor another, yielding a result which is (hopefully) greater than the sum of the two parts. For example, the pitch of one sound can Program notes & booklet design by Paul Miller be intermodulated with the rhythm of another. y y y Despite the use of many kinds of , Stockhausen did Artist Biographies not think of Telemusik as a collage. He wrote, “Rather – through Aaron Bagby is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree from CU the process of intermodulation between old ‘found’ objects and Boulder where he studies with Dr. Doug Walter. Mr. Bagby has performed new sound events which I made using modern electronic means with many well-known and diverse musicians including Jeff Coffin, Sarah – a higher unity is reached: a universality of past, present and Morrow, Mark Pender, Michael Spiro, and Jack Schantz. He is currently the principal percussionist in the Longmont Symphony , and has also future, of distant places and spaces: TELE-MUSIC.” held a residency at Carnegie Hall in May of 2008 performing with the National Wind Symphony. Bagby received his Bachelor’s in performance from According to Stockhausen, “the person Flautina is a flute- Ohio University where he was a student of Mr. Roger Braun and Mr. Guy spirit in human costume: bewitchingly enchanting.” In this Remonko. short piece, the flutist plays each of the twelve notes of one of A native of Denver, Colorado, Bryan Bolen is a third-year Music Education the three melodies used in Stockhausen’s enormous Licht opera major and percussionist at CU Boulder. Mr. Bolen is not only a performer of cycle. However, these notes are placed in radically different classical repertoire, but has also extensively studied traditional African dance, registers and each elaborated upon at some length. Because Indian percussion, jazz, and contemporary music. He hopes to pursue a career using music to help others. some notes are very high and others low, the flutist must use three different flutes to perform the piece: the piccolo, the Elizabeth Comninellis is pursuing a master’s degree in music composition at standard concert flute, and the alto flute. To make it easier to the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her previous studies were at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) where she worked with acclaimed switch between these instruments rapidly, a “flute belt” is composers Chen Yi and Paul Rudy. Most recently she received the Levy necessary. Flautina was a birthday present to the Dutch flutist Graduate Composition Award at CU Boulder. Kathinka Pasveer, who was one of Stockhausen’s longtime collaborators. Described as having “consummate virtuosity” by The New York Times, percussionist Stuart Gerber has performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, Australia, and Mexico as a soloist and chamber musician. He is After he finished his massive cycle of seven operas – one for currently Associate Professor of Percussion at Georgia State University in each day of the week – Stockhausen embarked on a project of Atlanta. As an active performer of new works, Stuart has been involved in a composing one piece for each hour of the day. Cosmic Pulses number of commissions and world-premiere performances. Most notably he has given the world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Heaven’s Door, and (2006 – 7) became the work in that cycle, called recorded a number of percussion works for the Stockhausen Complete Klang [Sound]. Concerning the Klang cycle, Stockhausen Edition. He has been the solo/faculty percussionist for the annual wrote that “It seems that I am listening again more for Stockhausen Courses in Germany since 2005. Stuart has worked with many moments, atmospheres, rather than formulas with their limbs, other notable composers, including , Tristan Murail, , , George Crumb, Ricard Zohn-Muldoon, and John transpositions, transformations.” At the time of his passing, Luther Adams. He can be heard on recordings released by Bridge Records, Stockhausen had completed twenty-one of the projected Capstone Records, Telarc, Code Blue Records, Mode Records, Wesleyan twenty-four works in Klang. University Press, Albany Records, and Vienna Modern Masters.

Violinist and conductor Alejandro Gómez-Guillén is a native of Columbia. Stripped down to its most fundamental level, Cosmic Pulses He holds a Master’s degree in violin performance from CU Boulder, having employs a basic double tone-row which appears throughout studied with Judith Ingolfsson and Lina Bahn. Currently, Alejandro is works in the Klang cycle. However, Stockhausen added slight pursuing a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting with Professor Gary Lewis. He is the conductor of the Colorado Youth Philharmonia in Denver, pitch variations to the pitches, and sent each tone spinning the Mountain View Chancel Choir, an associate conductor of the Boulder around space in a wild trajectory. The work starts with the Symphony Orchestra, and co-conductor of the CU Campus orchestra. lowest-frequency “loops,” gradually building up to a kind of superdense texture, which includes twenty-four superimposed Frank Gutschmidt was born in 1971 in Brandenburg/Havel, Germany. As a soloist and in ensemble he devotes himself primarily to works of layers of sound. After a considerable amount of time, a process contemporary music. Several composers wrote piano works for him which he of thinning-out begins. This process leaves only one high and performed in world premières. At the Stockhausen Courses Kürten 2001 and low layer of electronic music at the end. Some have described 2002 he received prizes from Stockhausen for the performances of Piano Pieces this scheme – of growth, steady state, and then release – as a X, XII and XIV. Since then he performed all of the piano works of Stockhausen in many concerts, working alongside the composer until his metaphor for human life. passing in 2007. Since 2003, Frank has served on the faculty of the annual Stockhausen Courses in Kürten. Together with Benjamin Kobler he Hidden in Cosmic Pulses is a secret numerical reference. performed Natural Durations 1 - 15 (world première of 2 - 15) in a concert on Stockhausen composed 241 loops in the space around listeners. July 12th 2006 in Kürten and recorded seven pieces from this cycle which are dedicated to him for the Stockhausen Complete Edition (CD 85). In a long list, Stockhausen indicated how each loop moves through eight locations around the audience. 241 × 8 = 1928. This was the year of Stockhausen’s birth.

11 Flutist Christina Jennings has appeared as a concert soloist with over fifty member of two active chamber ensembles, Trio Encantar and Duo Solaris. As , countless chamber ensembles, and even with jazz great Marian Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at the University of Colorado at McPartland on a shared CD for Albany Records. The Houston Press declared, Boulder, Dr. Nguyen co-directs the graduate programs in collaborative piano, “Jennings has got what it takes: a distinctive voice, charisma, and a pyrotechnic teaches the undergraduate accompanying curriculum and oversees style that works magic on the ears.” In great demand as a teacher, Ms. Jennings accompanyingservices for the College of Music. She completed her graduate is Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and on degrees under the guidance of Jean Barr at the Eastman School of Music where the summer faculty of the Texas Music Festival. She has presented master classes she was awarded the first Performer’s Certificate in Piano Accompanying and at the Julliard School, Rice University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, the . She also holds degrees from McGill University and the Peabody Institute, and the Longy School of Music. She received her Bachelor’s Conservatoire de musique du Québec a Montréal. and Master’s degrees from the Julliard School, and lives in Boulder with her husband, violist Matthew Dane, and their twin sons. John Peterson received a Bachelor of Music degree in theory and composition from the University of Western Ontario in 2008. He is currently a Master’s Jason Johnston received his Bachelor of Music degree in percussion performance student in music theory at CU Boulder, where his research interests include at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. In addition to performing, Mr. Schenkerian analysis, theories of musical expression, meaning & gesture and the Johnston also composes and arranges works for various solo and ensemble music of Carl Nielsen. John intends to continue his study of music theory as a combinations. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in percussion PhD program next year. performance under the direction of Dr. Douglass Walter at CU Boulder. Amanda Samuelson is pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Theory at CU Jerome Kohl received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1981 with Boulder. She graduated in 2009 cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in music from a dissertation on “Serial and Non-Serial Techniques in the Music of Karlheinz Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD. Amanda looks forward to Stockhausen from 1962–1968.” He has published extensively on Stockhausen’s furthering her understanding of music through the “reverse engineering” music, and currently has a book in press from Ashgate on Stockhausen’s early approach that theory study provides. She is working towards a career as a wind quintet Zeitmaße. He is the editor and chief translator of the English professor of music theory. edition of Stockhausen’s Texts on Music, forthcoming from the Stockhausen- Verlag. For sixteen years he was the Managing Editor of Perspectives of New Daniel Silver is active as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral performer, Music, for which he also guest-edited a two-part collection of articles on clinician and teacher. He served as principal clarinet of the Baltimore Opera , and a three-part 70th-birthday Festschrift for Karlheinz Orchestra, the Washington Chamber Symphony (Kennedy Center) and the Stockhausen in 1998–99. He has appeared several times as a studio guest on BBC National Gallery Orchestra. From 1980 to 1987 he was the principal clarinet of the Radio 3’s new-music program Hear and Now, and in November 2008 was an Hong Kong Philarhamonic. From 1988 to 2000 he was a member of the invited speaker at the week-long Klang Festival, curated by Oliver Knussen at the Contemporary Music Forum in Washington, D.C. Mr. Silver’s performances have Southbank Centre in London. In the summers of 2009 and 2010 he was invited received wide critical acclaim: the Washington Post praised his “sense of freedom and to present analysis seminars on a number of Stockhausen’s works at the extraordinary control.” A graduate of Northwestern University and the University and Twelfth Stockhausen Courses for Music in Kürten, Germany. of Michigan, he currently serves as Associate Professor of Clarinet at CU Boulder.

Stephanie Mientka, violist, is in her fourth year of pursuing a Bachelor’s degree Andrew Stonerock is a doctoral candidate in Saxophone Performance and Pedagogy in music performance at CU Boulder. She studies with Erika Eckert and at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As a performer he has had the privilege of Geraldine Walther. Ms. Mientka has performed with numerous orchestras performing with the Ft. Collins Symphony, the Lonestar Wind Orchestra, the throughout Colorado, but also enjoys chamber music and improvisation. In her Niwot-Timberline Symphony, and the Colorado Music Festival Symphony. He is spare time, she performs with her family’s Celtic band “Feast.” also an advocate of new music, often premiering pieces with various ensembles.

Daniel Miller has had a varied background in music that has taken him all over Tenly Williams is a member of the Boulder Philharmonic, principal oboist of the United States as a performer and teacher. He has performed with the the Steamboat Springs Orchestra, and co-founder of the Mountain Music Houston Symphony, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and the Baltimore Ensemble. Tenly completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. Daniel holds degrees from the University of Houston’s of Music, and her Master of Music degree at the University of Texas at Austin. Moores School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory. Daniel is committed to She teaches at the Parlando School for the Arts (Boulder) and the Rocky performing the music of our time, and to that end he has worked with many Mountain Center for Musical Arts (Lafayette). young composers, premiering dozens of new works for the trumpet. A native of Pollock, Louisiana, Matthew Witherow earned a Bachelor of Music Paul Miller is a native of Poughkeepsie, New York. A music theorist and a in piano performance from the Univeristy of Louisiana at Monroe. There, performer of baroque and contemporary music, he has appeared with baroque Witherow received several prestigious awards and honors, and in 2007 and 2008 ensembles in Toronto, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Paul has he won the National Federation of Music Clubs “Lucille Parrish Ward Veterans been invited to give recitals at the Metropolitian Museum of Art in New York Award.” A former U.S. Marine and Iraq War vereran, Witherow is currently a City, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and in Munich, Germany. member of Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War. Witherow is He has premiered several new works at the International Vacation Courses for completing his master’s degree in piano performance from CU Boulder in the New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, where he won a Stipendiumpreis for his viola studio of Andrew Cooperstock. He and his wife Joy reside in Boulder. and viola d’amore performances in 2004. In 2005 he gave the world premiere of the viola version of Stockhausen’s solo work in Kürten, Germany, Bryan Wolf was born in Michigan in 1960, where he studied organ and under the composer’s direction. As a music theorist, he has presented research at composition. He continued his composition studies with Milko Kelemen and several national and international conferences. Paul holds a Master’s degree in Erhard Karkoschka at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart from 1987 to 1992. He has viola performance, and a Ph.D. in music theory, both from the Eastman School received awards and scholarships from the Province of Baden-Württemberg, the of Music. His undergraduate studies were at Vassar College, the New England Darmstadt «Ferienkurse» and the Experimental Studio of the Heinrich-Strobel- Conservatory, and Harvard University. Currently Paul is an Instructor of Music Foundation of Southwest German Radio (SWR). As Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Theory at the Unversity of Colorado, Boulder. personal sound engineer for nearly ten years, Bryan engineered countless performances and premieres across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Mary Mixter was raised on the Western Slope of Colorado. Her performance USA in major concert halls, opera houses, and unconventional venues. He has background includes the 2006 Sound of America tour and the 2008–9 Denver served on the faculty of the School of Design in Pforzheim, Germany since 1992. Young Artists’ Orchestra. She is currently studying trombone performance and composition at CU Boulder. Sarah Wood is originally from Northern California, where she began studying the violin at the age of 4. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Alexandra Nguyen maintains a diverse career as a collaborative pianist, teacher violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and is currently and arts administrator. She has appeared as a pianist throughout the United pursuing a DMA at CU Boulder. Her areas of interest include solo violin States and Canada, including performances at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, repertoire, violin pedagogy, and chamber music. In February she will be BargeMusic (Brooklyn, New York), the Dame Myra Hess series (Chicago, IL), performing a concert of Baroque chamber music with the newly-formed and the 2000 Bartok International Congress (Austin, TX). She is a founding Ensemble Pearl at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver, Colorado.

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