Search - Karlheinz Stockhausen :: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Tierkreis (Zodiac)

"Cutting-edge" improvisations on Stockhausen's music

10/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 12 Stravinsky-style miniature melodies of "Tierkreis" are probably Stockhausen's most easily approachable composition. The melodies composed originally for music boxes in the early 70's to be used in "Musik im Bauch", a scenic piece for percussionists and a large birdman containing music boxes in the belly. All these melodies were later used in "Sirius", and there are arrangements for several instrumental combinations. This CD, released in celebration of the Composer's 75th birthday, presents two realisations of "Tierkreis", or rather two "jam sessions" on "Stockhausen standards." The sound of the original boxes emerges then and then, and the original melodies were played mostly as paraphrases. And the use of the term "intuitive" in the liner notes has nothing in common with Stockhausen's use of this term in the late 60's. I wonder what the Composer thinks about this birthday gift. However, considered as modern jazz ("European style", in spite of Mr Svoboda's nationality), this CD deserves 5 stars. Mike Svoboda has worked with the Composer before in the "Licht" operas as well as in concerts, and he was the main soloist in a CD of the Stockhausen Edition ("Music for Trombone and Euphonium", Stockhausen-Verlag CD 44). Svoboda's homepage refers to earlier versions of "Tierkreis" prepared by him: for trombone and piano (1988), for trombone and percussion (1991), and for trombone and brass ensemble (1995). It is lamentable that these versions have not been released on CD."