Overview
“Karlheinz Stockhausen: Zyklus; Refrain; Kontakte” is an album that contains three compositions composed by German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen between the late 1950s and 1960.
Commentary
This album was recorded by French national public radio broadcaster Radio France in December 1992, and it was released on CD by Accord, a label of Universal Music France, in 1993.
The performers are Florent Jodelet (percussion), Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (celesta, percussion), and Gérard Frémy (piano, percussion).
It contains three experimental works by Stockhausen, in which he explored new possibilities in percussion and electronic music.
“Zyklus” and “Refrain” are characterized by innovative notation and aleatoric elements. “Kontakte” is characterized by the integration of electronic and live music.
Zyklus (1959)
“Zyklus für einen Schlagzeuger (Cycle for a Percussionist)” was composed in 1959 at the request of Wolfgang Steinecke as a test piece for a percussion competition at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, where it was premiered on 25 August 1959 by Christoph Caskel.
The work is written for one percussionist playing over 30 instruments, including vibraphone, marimba, snare drum, and tom-toms.
The score does not progress in a single direction but has a cyclical structure, allowing the performer to start from any point.
There is no fixed meter or rhythm, and the sequence of performance varies each time, introducing an aleatoric element.
Refrain (1959)
“Refrain for Three Players” was composed in June and July 1959 on commission from Gerhart von Westerman for the Berlin Festwochen.
It was premiered on 2 October 1959 by David Tudor (piano), Cornelius Cardew (celesta), and a percussionist from the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Siegfried Rockstroh (vibraphone), at the Berlin Congresshalle.
“Refrain” is a chamber music composition composed for three players: piano with woodblocks, vibraphone with alpine cowbells, and amplified celesta with antique cymbals.
A placid sound texture is disturbed by a short refrain six times. The score includes a rotatable transparent sheet, which is superimposed on curved staves. The refrain is notated on the transparent sheet. By shifting position, this refrain interrupts the players unpredictably and creates a collage of different tonal and rhythmic textures.
Kontakte (1960)
“Kontakte (Contacts)” is an electronic music work produced in 1958–60 at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) electronic-music studio in Cologne with the assistance of Gottfried Michael Koenig.
There are two versions: a version for electronic sounds alone and a version for piano, percussion, and four-channel tape. This album includes the latter.
This version was premiered on 11 July 1960 by David Tudor (piano, percussion), Christoph Caskel (percussion), and Karlheinz Stockhausen (sound projection) at WDR, Köln.
This work integrates electronic sounds with live instrumental sounds, and creates the effect of sound moving through space by using four-channel electroacoustic sound.
Track Listing
- Zyklus (1959): For One Percussion – 17:55
- Percussion – Florent Jodelet
- Refrain (1959): For Three Instrumentalists – 11:31
- Celesta, Percussion – Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
- Percussion – Florent Jodelet
- Piano, Percussion – Gérard Frémy
- Kontakte (1960): For Piano, Percussion And Magnetic Tape – 34:47
- Percussion – Florent Jodelet
- Piano, Percussion – Gérard Frémy