Thou Shall Not Make Any Graven Images (Or Touch That Knob!)

Yesterday, Stockhausen's projectionist Bryan Wolf was discussing how sometimes he would get nervous in performance when he had to make adjustments to the volume. He cited two instances where Stockhausen would urge him to increase the volume: soft passages in Kontakte and the clicking passage in Michael's Jugend.

He recalled, "In Michael’s Jugend, there’s a section where there’s clicks coming from the choir tape, and you have to throw them around the room…I remember Herr Stockhausen saying, “MORE! MORE!”

But, he warned that these types of adjustments aren't acceptable in the music of Stockhausen.

(Hang on a tic, right?)

He warns, "If something like that is not specifically indicated in the score. You just don’t do it. It’s not allowed. This is not Nono…In the Nono performance practice, it’s raw material that you’re allowed to work with. ..This is a completely different performance practice, and that’s exactly what you should not do…"

But, I ask, "Why is it okay for Stockhausen to notice things and bring them out, but not for us?"

Bryan responds, "Because that’s not the way the piece is composed. The piece is finished on tape. That is Karlheinz Stockhausen’s performance material. That is the piece."

Now, to be fair, we are at the friggin' Stockhausen Course. It's not the Jim Bob Course. The whole point of the place is to pass on the tools to perform Stockhausen's music as he intended. But therein lies one of the happier contradictions in Stockhausen's work. As dogmatic as he was, he never hesitated to abandon his principles in favor of practicality.

More later...