Repertoire
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Tierkreis (1974-1975) 25’
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück No. 9 (1954-1961) 10’
Alberto Posadas: Anklänge an Stockhausen (2017) 9’
Ming Tsao: Plus Minus (2012-13) – Realization of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Plus Minus n. 14 (1963, 1974) 32’
Artists
Ensemble Ascolta
Andrea Nagy, clarinet
Markus Schwind, trumpet
Andrew Digby, trombone
Erik Borgir, violoncello
Florian Hoelscher, piano
Anne-Maria Hoelscher, accordion
Hubert Steiner, electric and acoustic guitars
Julian Belli, Lucas Gérin, Boris Müller and Vanessa Porter, percussion
Catherine Larson-Maguire, conductor
Program
Karlheinz Stockhausen is one of the key figures of twentieth century music, a pioneer in pushing the boundaries of musical technique in the post-war period. A tireless developer of new musical forms, including electronic music, “intuitive music”, spatialisation and the use of serial techniques to control all the parameters of sound, his influence led to an almost theological approach to the art of composition.
PROGRAMHis works are entirely individual and unmistakeable, with universal appeal based on two guiding principles in the treatment of sound: the omnipresent concept of unity and the neutralisation of confrontations. Sampler Sèries continues the retrospective begun last season with three key works, milestone pieces that are recognised as twentieth century classics and precursors of an unsurpassed legacy.
The programme’s main work, Plus minus, is central to Stockhausen’s repertoire. A “polyvalent process composition”, the music is self-generated in a very strict framework of polarities and combinations, catalogued in a total of seven pages and seven layers. The length of the piece and the instruments used are open, left to the performers’ discretion. For this realisation of the work, the composer Ming Tsao has developed his own metaserial version, using seven pages and two layers.
