Search - Pascal Dusapin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Traditional :: In the Sky I am Walking: Native American Songs

Terrestrial voices

10/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

""You are what you sing" and "The voice is a human being's best instrument", declared Stockhausen in 1972. In the same year he composed "Am Himmel Wandre Ich..." for two singers. This piece is based on 12 texts from the anthology "American Indian Prose and Poetry" by Margot Astrov, as well as on sets of "indeterminate names" and "unusual vocal sounds". The result is typical Stockhausen, so if you appreciate his music then you cannot miss this beautiful recording with bass baritone Nicholas Isherwood and mezzo soprano Isabelle Soccoja. Mr. Isherwood has worked with Stockhausen before (including the role of Lucifer in "Dienstag aus Licht"), and according to the liner notes the singers rehearsed this piece with the composer in two separate occasions, so this can be called an "authorized" interpretation. I consider the other pieces in this CD less interesting: ethnically European whites singing "authentic Native American music" as well as a piece by composer Pascal Dusapin for vocal quartet, in this recording using authentic Native American instruments in order to obtain "a more 'ethnic' sound" (sic). The performances are enthusiastic, I would even say "colourful", but I cannot judge how "authentic" they are. The obsession with the term "ethnic" reflected in the liner notes should not detract from the fact that, after all, all the pieces in this CD are "terrestrial" music."