Customer Reviews

Stockhausen: Aus den sieben Tagen

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had seen this album in the infamous 'Nurse with wounds list' where i have found TONS of spectacular, creative music. After searching this was the only version that could be bought (which i am almost certain is the one on the NWW list) on cd. Before pushing the 'buy it' button i started reading some reviews and some said that this is not the best interpretation of this work. I am glad i ended up buying it anyways. After listening, all i can tell you is that 1) this music is a mind trip! excellent free form music yet somehow controlled, 2) when you have players of the caliber of Michel Portal, Jean Francois Jenny-Clark and Jean-Pierre Drouet in the band YOU KNOW the pieces are going to fly as these are some of the best players in european avant garde jazz at the time (these are 1969 recordings), and 3) Stockhausen is there in the recording booth doing his thing with filters and oscillators and obviously approved this baby.

I loved this version of 'Aus den sieben Tagen. Maybe you will too.

I couldn't tell you why I like this recording. It opens with all kinds of screeching from the saxophone that sounds worse than some of John Coltrane's later experiments. The piece reminds of Feldman (in his middle stages) in a bad mood and on some kind of hallucinogenic drug. Try it if you have a lot of interest in this composer but this one is not for the beginner.

I must admit, the idea of "intuitive music" really intrigues me. I've read parts of the score to this piece and am interested in it's general attitude toward controlling improvisation, but am not sure how controlled the results truly are, (nor how truly interested Stockhausen is in that control). As such it would be most instructive to have multiple versions of this work available for comparison, because this one leaves me a little cold.

Arguments below have centered on the nature of the improvisation in this work. I would have to agree that on the whole, I'd rather hear a seasoned group of avant-gard jazz musicians play this piece, rather than the ensemble recorded hear. They don't seems to have the ears needed to play this piece well. There are alot of interesting sounds on the album, but it adds up to less than the sumof it's parts. On the other hand, this in no way resembles late Coltrane or other out jazz players, and it is wrong to confuse them. Stockhausen was certainly influenced by those players, and by the acid rock movement. And those movements were influenced by Stockhausen. But the fundemental interests are different. Avant-garde jazz is at it's core interested in recovering an almost shamanist spirituality...and as such has much more in common with traditional musics of Africa. This work is much more static, more Eastern in a way. And yet definately part of the composer's Darmstadt outlook.

So, in conclusion, it's an interesting release, and I'd certainly like to hear more of the piece. But I don't return to it very much. Seems to lack focus.

I've heard two versions of these pieces, and also performed on a version of "Set Sail for the Sun", which appears here. The problem here is that the intuitive nature of these pieces dictates that the results depend largely on the prior scope of experience of the performer(s) as well as their interaction in an ensemble situation when that's called for. And the problem here is that, having actually performed some of Stockhausen's intuitive music, I can tell that the 'mix' here is not wholly functioning. There's a clear sense of disorder between the diverse backgrounds of the players, and I also know for a fact that there was some personal dissonance among a few of the performers. The versions with Stockhausen's personal ensemble, previously released on DGG but now only available from Stockhausen-verlag, are much more revealing and rewarding, as these players (some of which appear here) have a better sense of interaction due to their years of work together and their first-hand familiarity with the composer and his work. Personally, _I_ think it would be interesting to see some more versions/realizations of these pieces, as well as those from Stockhausen's similar "Fur Kommende Zeiten" intuitive cycle, particularly with a more harmoniously-attuned group than the one on this CD.

Concerning the distinction between Stockhausen's "intuitive music" and what in Western music is called "improvisation" the reader can check out Stockhausen's lecture "Questions and answers on intuitive music"on [the stockhausen web site] (see the section "Interviews - Lectures - Articles"). Nevertheless this is a great recording, no matter what you call the music!

Just to clarify- I'm not a ms., I'm a mr. Second, I was about 15 when I wrote that review (you must forgive a little childhood ignorance). Finally, what's the use in getting so personal in matters like this? It's weird stuff and not for the average listener, no one can deny that. I'm not the average listener, having studied music (and, particularly European avant-garde music) for the past 10 years or so. It interests me that previous reviewers seem to think so highly of Stockhausen and so badly of Cage. Stockhausen believes that he is a superior being from a planet near Alpha Centauri who believes that he was sent to Earth to better mankind. He also has a harem of wives in Germany. Cage had no such bizarre inflations of his own importance. Eccentricities aside, Stockhausen is a fascinating composer, works such as Gruppen, Carré, Gesange der Junglinge, and Kontakte being fine examples of a more accessible (though slightly) and intellectually interesting style. Perhaps my naive comparisons to late Coltrane were not appropriate or accurate but they certainly don't warrant personal attacks. Let's keep the discussion to the music, eh folks?

Masson conducts here greatly two of the musique intuitive Aus den sieben Tagen composed by the great master Karlheinz Stockhausen, who also participates in the performance of the pieces. By the way, as Shannon W, Mack says, it is not for the beginners: which she clearly is, thinking this is some kind of drug oriented music from a jazz or a rock musician or some of kind ofextravaganza by an intellectualoid poser like Cage. Sorry, Ms. Mack, next time do some research about the music you are going to buy.

Stockhausen can write as many lectures as he likes, but that isn't going to alter the music. And, believe it or not, it's the music that matters not the words.

Quite simply, when it comes to improvisation a group of classical musicians used to reading scores are just not going to compare to cutting-edge jazz musicians who have lived improvisation practically every day of their lives. That isn't going to change, regardless of spiritualist trappings, or how many days you stick them in a room without food and water! To say otherwise is tantamount to racism. It's certainly cultural prejudice.

Besides, Stockhausen is at his best when exercising total control as in Kontakte or Hymnen.

The two reviews immediately below are typical of the type of snobby and pretentious attitude that is unfortunately all too common among the fans of Stockhausen. If you enjoy the pose of misunderstood avant-garde music, this is for you.

Apparently the score makes some unusual demands of the performers, such as "Live alone for four days without food." Why? Who knows? My guess would be that this, like much in Stockhausen's music, is simply there for the purpose of making the score as unusual as possible. (A good example is his Helicopter quartet, which requires the players in the quartet to perform their parts in separate air born helicopters, unable to hear each other.)

Another couple of arses giving Stockhausen a bad name.

Put simply: Musique intuitive = improvisation. So now please explain to me the GULF of difference between Aus den Sieben Tagen and something like John Coltrane's 'Ascension'. Labelling Coltrane a 'pop musician' is not an answer!