AKI TAKAHASHI – Piano Space = 高橋アキの世界 (1973-2009) 3CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist + Credits :

STOCKHAUSEN - Stimmung [1986]

"Stimmung," translatable as "tuning" or "being in tune with," is a long-form exploration of vocal harmonics for six vocalists and six microphones. The entire piece is based on a low B flat, from which the vocalists spread out harmonically using overtone singing. Clocking in at over one hour in duration, the effect on the listener is simply hypnotic and is similar in many ways to the works of the so-called "minimalist" composers. The overtones of the voices take on the sounds of wind instruments, like a flute or a bassoon. Over the course of the performance, the vocalists are singing meditations on numerous deities from the all over the world, interspersed with various spoken "recitatives" with a somewhat juvenile sexual subject matter. Vocal group Singcircle, an avant-garde vocal sextet based in England, perform flawlessly, their eerie overtones floating high above the fundamental notes. by Mark Allender

STOCKHAUSEN [1928-2007]

 Stimmung [1986]

Singcircle Version / Gregory Rose, ‎Dir.

CBR320 / scan

O Púbis da Rosa

STOCKHAUSEN - Samstag Aus Licht [1988] DG / 4CD

 Samstag aus Licht is the first music by Karlheinz Stockhausen to come my way. Being limited as I am, I fail dismally to encompass this music or the fertile imagination behind it. Accordingly I’m tentative in the extreme in penning this el cheapo review.

This much I can say: its Fourth Act - Luzifers Abschied – is the creepiest music I have ever heard. Putting aside stereotypes and astronomical gas bills, this is Hell, best understood as a dynamic where God’s absence is total. What resides in its place? Chaos in all its causticity; meaninglessness and the loss of symmetry; disintegration; the tyranny of small things; Nietzsche’s Law of Eternal Recurrence, fresh from five minutes in the microwave; endless repeats of Baywatch being played backwards and overdubbed in the Black Speech of Mordor.

Listen to this music late at night and it’ll be an “On the Road to Damascus Experience” of sorts where Abaddon, archangel of the abyss, will slip you his business card before the night is through.

This is so much more than mood-music or a glorified film score. Indeed, it’s a deeply religious work. Somewhat unwillingly, Lucifer listened to it with me at our last meeting of the Australian Knappertsbusch Association. He too was left spooked. As he left the room, he muttered, “Stay in the light! Stay in the light!” in a higher-pitch voice than normal. I took this to mean something more than a reference to the Bee-Gees and their jeans of gold. by Bernard Michael O'Hanlon

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928-2007) - Samstag Aus Licht
[1988] DG / 4CD / CBR320 / scan

O Púbis da Rosa