Stockhausen Complete Edition on CD 2004 rev.2005
In 1991 The Stockhausen Verlag began releasing the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen on Compact Discs. In order to do this Stockhausen's publishing company had to reacquire the publishing rights from the various recording companies (most notably from Deutsche Grammophon) who had originally released and distributed the recordings. This development was very welcome, since the issue of audio recordings of Stockhausen's new works had almost stopped, and the back catalogue of music from previous decades was Out Of Print and therefore unavailable worldwide. The Stockhausen Verlag has worked extremely hard getting more than seventy volumes of CDs available (all with booklets and translations) in the first thirteen years of The Edition. To an even greater degree than Igor Stravinsky before him, Stockhausen's recording output represents a reliable document of the wishes of the composer and a resource for future performers. Naturally there are several issues raised by a prolific artist/ composer taking sole charge of their recorded output, but for Stockhausen's music to survive the current commercial realities the Complete Edition has been invaluable.
Complete Edition
"The numbers indicate The General Historical Order of the Works"
As the CD Complete Edition has grown the numbering towards the newest releases has lost some of its coherence. It seems not enough spaces were reserved within the numbering system for the works related to complete operas to appear in chronological sequence, and early works, whether revised or not , are appearing at the end of the list. While the numbering of the volumes is hardly an issue for people ordering music from the Verlag, it suggests the great difficulty there was when estimating how much music it would be possible to record and release.
With the completition of Licht in 2003 Stockhausen's CD releases have nearly caught up with the World Premieres of his music. In a couple of cases the pieces reached the CDs first. Very nearly all of the scenes of Mittwoch aus Licht and Sonntag aus Licht have been heard before staged world premieres have been possible, but reliable information says these two operas (CD 54 and CD75 will be released as complete CD boxes despite most scenes being released first.
Where is VOLUME 17
Volume 17 in the CD Edition has not been announced, prompting speculation on its contents.
The intention is that a set of Fur Kommende Zeiten recordings be released as CD 17. The Ensemble for Intuitive Music: Weimar has already recorded several of the pieces for Stockhausen Verlag, and it seems possible that volume 17 will be released in several stages, with the first CD later this year.
Personal Wish List
1. A CD of Opus 1970 (Kurzwellen mit Beethovenmusik "Stockhoven-Beethausen" DG 139 461). In effect, this adaption of the Kurzwellen score has been withdrawn by the composer after its release on LP. Despite this, it is an enormously popular recording with many who own the rare LP. It also seems a shame that the original two Kurzwellen recordings were separated onto two CD volumes: 13 & 61. Together with Opus 1970 they would have made the ultimate Kurzwellen set.
2. The chamber orchestra version of Tierkreis (1975/1977), and the symphony orchestra version of Luzifers Tanz would both be welcome releases. Similarly one hopes the solo flute and flute/piano versions of Kathinka's Gesang will be heard soon. Jubilaum, and Dr K Sextett, are both performable works which should be included in a Complete Edition.
3. A new integrated recording of Hymnen mit Soloisten und Orchester. The composer has said even his well rehearsed group which performed in the 1980s (such as the memorable performance with the BBCSO in London 1985) would sometimes lapse into unwanted styles, but the performances were nonetheless breathtaking.
4. Include full libretti with every opera CD set: e.g. Donnerstag aus LICHT. This was apparently ommitted to release the CDs quickly, and the three column text format might be too big for the case (like Momente). Following the libretto at least once really helps to understand this work.
5. World Premiere recordings of the Licht Operas, complete with stage noises "warts and all". These would complement the fastidious studio recordings of the scenes currently available , and give a more theatrical experience. Complete Edition releases of Luzifer's Tanz (in Samstag aus LICHT CD 34) and Helikopter Streichquartett (CD 53) do include live recordings, but what about the rockets launched, but never heard, during Luzifer's Traum? Other historical performances may exist in the Archive. How interesting it would be to hear Der Jahreslauf at it's world premiere played by Gagaku Orchestra.
6. Ordering online with credit cards direct from the Stockhausen Verlag would be widely welcomed. Credit cards are less commonly used in Germany, but worldwide customers appreciate that kind of convenience, even at a small premium.
The next Stockhausen Edition?
If the first era of Stockhausen recordings was exemplified by the LPs produced by Deutsche Grammophon (and some truly historic performances released on other labels) then the second era gave us the ongoing Stockhausen Complete Edition on CD, which catalogues the composer's entire output (almost) and achieves worldwide availablity without any recordings becoming deleted. For the future, a new era of stockhausen's recordings is needed, because the time is now right to prepare these works for multi-channel home listening. I am aware that forms of this technology have existed for a very long time, (examples include quadraphonic LPs or CD UHJ encoding). These possibilities never became commercially viable media, even for a composer such as Stockhausen who has pioneered multi channel composition and sound projection in the concert hall. What has now changed is that multichannel technology in the form of DVD systems is being installed in millions of homes, is available quite cheaply, and at a higher audio quality than CD. Even more importantly the technology needed to mix and produce multichannel discs is already being used by the musicians themselves. Professional level software such as Logic and Pro Tools, with many multichannel encoding options accessible on the computer screen, allows the remixing of a completed electronic composition for a new purpose. Mail Order and the world marketplace opened up by the internet makes small production levels possible as never before. I look forward to future releases of AudioDVD enabling me to hear works such as Carre, Kontakte, Sirius, Stimmung Orchester-Finalisten or Michaelion in surround sound! It has been explained by Stockhausen that such recordings can never be the same as his multi-channel projections in a large performance space, because the loudspeakers will be too close together, and also there isn't yet enough spatial separation of the bass channels. What can't be denied is that such recordings would be much closer to the concert hall experience than stereo realizations are. The composed dimensions of spatial beauty would no longer be missing.
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