Thursday, April 20, 2023

DXCVI. STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz: Carré for 4 orchestras and choirs

DXCVI. STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz (1928-2007)

Carré for 4 orchestras and choirs (1959-60)
Sinfonie Orchester und Chör des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg
KS, cond.
Mauricio Kagel, cond.
Michael Gielen, cond.
Andrzej Markowski, cond.
(30:16)


This recording was the premiere (1960).

Like Gruppen (1955-57), Stockhausen is concerned with the spatial distribution of sound. The eight basic categories of sound production here are type, attack, gestalt variation, density, register, duration, amplitude, and color. These are further subdivided into four more detailed groups.

The phonetically conceived text was composed according to purely musical qualities. Only here and there do names of children, women, friends emerge.

An ideal listening experience would entail being in the audience, seated in the middle of the hall, surrounded by the four groups of instrumentalists and singers.

"The piece does not tell a story. Each moment can stand alone. It is necessary to take time if one wishes to absorb this music; most of the changes take place very gently INSIDE the sound. I wish that this music could impart some inner peace, expanse, and concentration; an awareness that we have a lot of time, if we take it -- that it is better to collect oneself than to be beside oneself, because whatever happens needs someone to whom it can happen -- someone must intercept it." -- KS

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