Stockhausen - Set Sail for the Sun

Set Sail for the Sun
from Aus den Sieben Tagen (1968)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)

Aaron Gelb, bass clarinet
Lautaro Mantilla, guitar
Neal Markowski, percussion
Beth McDonald, tuba

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Set Sail for the Sun is a selection from Stockhausen's first collection of "intuitive pieces." Stockhausen is known as a highly precise composer, so the fact that he wrote two whole sets of text pieces can come as a shock (as it did to me). On this music, he writes, "The most profound moments in musical interpretation are those which are not the result of mental processes, are not derived from what we already know. ... Musicians must learn to become the opposite of egocentric; otherwise you only play yourself, and the self is nothing but a big bag full of stored information. ... When you become like what I call a radio receiver, you are no longer satisfied with expressing yourself, you are not interested in yourself at all. There is nothing really to express." Many of these pieces were performed by groups like AMM with no rehearsal or discussion—the mindset is the crucial aspect of this piece. The score is reprinted in full below:

play a tone for so long
until you hear its individual vibrations

hold the note
and listen to the tones of the others
—to all of them together, not to individual ones—
and slowly move your tone
until you arrive at complete harmony
and the whole sound turns to gold
to pure, gently shimmering fire

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Recorded live at the New England Conservatory's Pierce Hall, Sunday 7 November 2010.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• karlheinz
• Stockhausen
• set
• sail
• for
• the
• sun
• from
• seven
• days
• aus
• den
• sieben
• tagen
• intuitive
• pieces
• music
• avant
• garde
• tuba
• bass
• clarinet
• percussion
• acoustic
• guitar
• aaron
• gelb
• lautaro
• mantilla
• neal
• markowski
• beth
• mcdonald

[spiritooalized]

Sublime