Composer dies at 79

Karlheinz Stockhausen has died.



Controversial giant of 20th century musical modernism dies age 79:
Guardian Unlimited


Kontakte


"In 1958 he made his first visit to the USA, and around this time his
music became more relaxed, both in its density of events and in its
notational exactitude. This was partly a result of Cage's influence;
partly it came from the experience of electronic music, which
suggested a different way of hearing, tuning in to sound events
rather than expecting them to be items in some pattern. Hence the
comparatively leisurely pace of Carr? for four choral-orchestral
groups (1960), Kontakte for piano, percussion and tape (1960) and
Momente for soprano, choir and instruments (1964, extended 1972).
Then the habit of working with sound as a substance led to a period
of virtual concentration on electronic pieces, many of them written
for the performing group with whom Stockhausen toured: Mikrophonie I
(1964), Prozession (1967), Kurzwellen (1968), Aus den sieben Tagen
(1968), these gradually relinquishing notation to the point where the
last work consists only of prose poems designed to stimulate
intuitive music-making. There were also, however, major works
composed on tape: Telemusik (1966), created during a revelatory visit to Japan, and Hymnen (1967), both using recordings from around the world."
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music