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Stockhausen's Piano Pieces: Some Notes for the ListenerAuthor(s): Roger SmalleySource: The Musical Times, Vol. 110, No. 1511 (Jan., 1969), pp. 30-32Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/953728

Accessed: 26/07/2010 21:53

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7/18/2019 Stockhausen's Piano Pieces - Some Notes for the Listener

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Stockhausen s

i a n o

i e c e s

Some notes

for

the

listener

Roger

Smalley

In the notes

accompanying

he recent

recording1

f

his

complete

piano works,

Stockhausen

writes:

In

spite

of,

or rather because

of,

the

very

con-

siderable

significance

of

timbre

(Klangfarben)

composition

in

my

electronic

music and in

my

orchestral

and vocal

works,

from time to time

I

have concentrated

again

on

'Piano

Pieces',

on

composing

for

a

single instrument,

for

ten

fingers,

with

minute

nuances

of timbres

and

structures.

They

are

my

drawings.

This

statement

admirably

characterizes he musical

content of these two records,and in additionsug-

gests,

perhaps,

the

frame of

mind

in

which we

as

listeners

can

most

valuably approach

them.

In

many

respects

these

eleven

piano pieces

are the

most

refined of all Stockhausen'sworks.

Lacking

both

the

overwhelming

onorous

and

spatial

effects

of

the

large

orchestral,

choral

and electronic

works

(Gruppen,

Carre, Momente, Kontakte),

and

the

grandiose

programmatic

and

philosophical

prob-

lems

posed by

much

of

his recent music

(Hymnen,

Momente, Telemusik),

they

rely

for

their cohesion

and

power

on

the

realization

and

perception

of

pure

structure.

Because

the

pieces

themselves force

us,

by

their

very

nature,

to concentrateon

structure,

want in

this article

o

try

and

indicatesome

of

the

structural

processes

at work and how we

may

perceive

hem.

There

are additionalreasons. The first

is the exist-

ence

of

the records

on

which

the

playing (by

Aloys

Kontarsky)

and

recording supervised

by

the com-

poser)

are

of

superlativequality.

The second is the

fact that

the scores

of all eleven

pieces

are

published,2

that

they

are

not

undulyexpensive,

and that some

of

the

pieces

(3, 5, 7,

9)

are

easy

enough

o be tackled

by

any pianist

of

average

technique.

Finally,

the

emphasis

on structurealso

provides

a useful

anti-

dote to those

who

criticize

Stockhausen's

music on

the groundsof being merelysound effects with no

form

or

development,and,

conversely,

o those

who

do

like

his

music

simply

because

t

is

full of

startling

new sounds.

First

a

word

about the

chronology

of

the

pieces.

A

complete

set of

21

piano

pieces

was

planned

in

1954,

divided

into

six

cycles:

1-4,

5-10,

11,

12-16,

17-19, 20-21,

of which

only

the first eleven have

as

yet

been

completed.

Pieces 1-4 were written

in

1952-3,

in the order

3,

2,

1,

4.

Pieces

5-10

were

written

in 1954-5

and

number

11

in 1956.

In

1961

revised versionswere

made of 9

and 10.

In

his

analysis3

of Piece

3,

Dieter Schnebel

has

shown

that

even

though

the

basic

premise

is the

equalityof all parameters,during he actualprocess

of

composition

the

relationships

et

up

between

the

'cBS

77209

(two

records,

87s

7d)

2Universal

3Die

Reihe, iv,

121

30

,

rl:----.10.---------------

11---------------,10--

- -

Nf

?

----

-*---

4Texte, i,

63

various

parameters

become more

important

than

their

individual

dentity.

Diverse elements become

inextricably

knotted

together

and

produce

the

identity

of the

piece itself,

a

total

form

which

is at

the

same time more

simple

and

more

complex

than

the sum of its

parts.

(This

is

shown

particularly

clearly

by

the

diagram

on

page

131.)

Once the

result of

a

process

has been

discovered,

one moves

on

a

stage

further.

The

recognition

that

the

dis-

cretely

considered lements

of

pointillistcomposition

tended

to

coalesce

into

characteristic

roups

in the

end

product

ed

Stockhausen o

the

notion

of

com-

position

with the

groups

themselves

(a

similar

development

can be

observed between Boulez's

first

and

second

books of

Structures).

Stockhausenhas written4:

In

pieces

1-4

a

transi-

tion from

pointillist

music

to

group

composition

can be

discerned'.

This

new idea

of

groups

can be

seen at its most

highly

developed

n

the

first

piece.

On

the

page

the music has a formidable

ook,

but

closer

examinationand

repeatedhearings

will

prove

that

it

is

in fact formed from the

contrast

and con-

tinuity

of

a

large

number

of

highly

characterized

groups.

The

following

is

a translation of Stock-

hausen's own commentaryon the first group of

Piece

1

(see

ex

1):

The

1st

group

has ten attacks and

a

directional

movement

n

medium-sized

pitch-intervals

rom

the lowest to the

highestregister.

Two

intervals,

however,

are

descenrding.

The

first

separates

he

whole

group

into

two

sub-groups

of

five and

seven

pitches

respectively.

The second descend-

ing

interval n

the middle

register

coincides

with

one which ascends

from the

low

register,

and so

continues

the

movement towards

the

high

register,

and

in

additionarticulates

the second

sub-group.

In the first

sub-group

he

pitches

are

sharply

demarcated

by

differentiated

dynamics;

in the second

group, however,

they

are of

equal

intensity.

Correspondingly,

n the

first

sub-group

the

pitches

are

of

different

durations,

those of

the

second

being fairly closely

related or

equal

in

their

durations.

At

two

places

in the

second

sub-

group,

two

pitches

are

struck

simultaneously.

A

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single

sound

quality

unites the

group

by

means

of the notated held

pedal.

Rhythmically

this

means:

the

pitches

are struck

consecutively,

but

they

end

simultaneously

with

the

release

of

the

pedal.

The

tempo

of

the

group

is

moderateand

accelerates n the

second

sub-group.

The

entire

group

has

a

durationof

five

crotchets.

In

essence

he

seems

to

be

saying

that the music

should be

perceived

in terms of its

direction,

density,

speed, dynamic

level

etc;

and the

unity

of

the

piece (from

the listener's

point

of

view)

will

become

apparent

when

we

recognize

the

intricate

network of

similarities

and

differences

which exist

between the

groups.

It

is

consistent with this

approach

hat the

pitch

organization

hould

be on

a

fairly

simple

evel.

It

would be

possible

to

deducea

12-note row

from the

first

bar,

but

this

seems

to

function

only

as a

pair

of

unordered

hexachords,

and

is

in

fact

used

as such

throughout

he rest of the

piece.

One noticeable

eatureof ex

1

is the

unprecedented

complexityof the irrationalvalues. Thesecan just

about

be realized

by

a

solo

performer-in

an

ensemblesituation

they

would become

meaningless.

Listening

irstto this

piece

and

then

to,

say,

the fifth

(which

uses no

irrational

values

at

all)

one can

per-

ceive

no essentialdifference

n the

types

of

rhythmic

articulation

present.

This is

because

Stockhausen

has

found a

much

simpler

and

more

satisfactory

method of

achieving

rhythmic

diversity.

This

system

also

recognizes

he

fact

that

in

any

musical

context certain

notes

will

emerge

as

more

important

than

others.

It

is,

in

essence,

a

system

of

grace-notes

whose

rhythmic profile

is

determined

by

the

dex-

terity

of the

performer

and

the

expressive

demands

of theircontext. Theprincipalnotescan be attached

to either the

beginning

or the end

of the

passage

of

grace

notes,

or can

emerge

rom

the

middle

of

them.

Ex 2

(from

Piece

5)

shows

examples

of

all

three

types.

fail to be

recognized.

Also

important

s the

struc-

tural use

of

tempo.

Pieces 5-8

all

use the

12

tempi

used in

Gruppenalthough

only

the

Piece

6 uses

all

12).

Jonathan

Harvey5

has

shown how

these

tempi

are used

to delineate the formal

divisions of

Piece

5 and also

how the overall formal

structure

s

built

out

of

a careful

control of

density

and

rate of

pitch eventuation. Each of the basic types of

material

reaches ts climax at

a

different

point

in

the

piece

so

that

the

overall

form can

be

likened

to

a

series of

interlocking

ycles,

each with

its

independ-

ently

achieved

peak

(as

in Plus-Minus nd

Zyklus).

Another

form-building

echnique

is

the use of

different

modes of

attack.

This is

of

particular

importance

in

Pieces

6 and

11.

Modes of attack

include

playing

staccato

with

the

right

pedal

half

down,

playing

staccato

and

immediately

rede-

pressing

he

key

silently

so

as

to obtain

an

echo,

and

gradually releasing

the

key

so

that

the sound

be-

comes softer and

brighter.

These

techniques

of

playing, previously

used

only

in a

colouristic

and

articulative

ole,

assume

n

these

pieces

a

structural

function.

Being

of

a

particularly

ubtle

nature

they

can be heard

perhaps

best

of

all

on a

gramophone

record.

The

structuraluse of

grace

notes,

and of

silence,

feature

most

prominently

in

Piece 10. The

basic

structureof

large

notes

becomes almost

submerged

under the

cascades

of

grace-notes, clusters,

and

cluster-glissandi.

As

in

the

recomposition

of

Punkte

(1962)

he addedmaterial

no

longer

merely

decorates

and

amplifies

the

basic material

but forms

a

new

layer

of

equal

(if

not

greater)

mportance,

o that

the

piece

seems

almost to

exist

in

two

dimensions

at

once. The form of Piece 10 is unusual in that it

begins

at the

point

of

greatest

complexity

and

gradually

becomes

simpler

as it

progresses.

The

first five-and-a-half

ages

present

n

almost

chaotic

juxtaposition

all the ideas

of

the

entire

piece.

There-

after

the ideas become

separated

nd

developed-for

instance

he

single

repeated

note at the

top

of

p.2

is

developed

at

length

on

pp.28-9

and

again

on

p.34,

and the

whole

concept

of

chromatically

nvoluted

grace-notes

s

presented

n a

new,

almost

impres-

sionistic

light

on

pp.34-5.

The

long

silences

n this

piece

are

virtually

never

really silent; they

are

'coloured'

by

the

delicate

sound of harmonic reson-

ances.

Again,

while these

tend

to die

away

rather

quickly

n the concerthalltheyarepicked

up

beauti-

fully

in

the

recording,

an

additional

microphone

over the

piano strings being

used to boost them

artificially,producing

at

times

an

almost

electronic,

un-'piano-like'

sound. This reinforces the

feeling

that the

tremendous

energy

generatedby

the

open-

ing

of the

piece

does not

merely stop

during

these

'silences'

but

continues

on some sub-audible

evel,

periodically

to burst

through

to

the

perceptible

level

again.

The

increasingly

lose correlationbetween Stock-

hausen's

compositional

techniques

and

the

way

in

which we

perceiveprocesses

n

sound is illustrated

best by Piece 9. At the beginning, two sharply

contrasted

ideas

are

stated. The first is a

single

unchanging

chord

repeated

over 200

times,

abso-

p

PIP

LTL•L:~l

'

II MAD Iw

t-t

.pPP

mp

Throughout

the second

cycle

of

pieces

it

be-

comes

progressively

easier to

perceive

overall,

as

opposed

to

local,

structure.

The

basic

types

of

material

become

highly

differentiated

and

are

isolated

from each

other

by

an

increasinglysigni-ficantuse of silence.

Particularly

learin structure

is

Piece

8

in

which the

three

main ideas-com-

plex

contrapuntal

passages,

long

held

single

notes,

and

outbreaks of

very

fast

violent chords-cannot

'Music

Review

(1968), xxix,

130

31

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lutely

regularly

nd at

a

moderately

ast

speed.

This

is

immediately

followed

by

a

very

slowly

rising

chromatic

scale,

each note of

a

different

duration.

During

the remainderof

the

piece

these two

ideas,

each associated with its

own

tempo,

are

alternated

and

juxtaposed.

The

resolution of the

conflict

between these two

opposing

ideas-fast and

per-

iodic, slow and aperiodic-is finallybroughtabout

only by

the

appearance

f

a

completely

new

kind of

music.

The

last

two

pages

of

the

piece

take

place

almost

entirely

in

the

highest register

of the

piano

and

consist

of

irregularly spaced

groups

of

fast

periodic

notes

which,

by

the

action of the

player,

gradually

become more

and

more

aperiodic.

I have tried

to indicate

just

a

few of the infinite

number

of

ways

in

which

we

can

listen

to these

pieces.

The

very

fact

that

they

are

of such inex-

haustible richness should indicate clearly enough

their

stature

as

music.

music

examples

by

permission

of

Universal Edition

(London)

Ltd

L e t t e r s t

t h

d i t o r

ELGAR

With

reference

o

Mr

Pirie's review

in The Musical

Times

of

August

ast

(p.728),

I

wish to

confirm

hat it

is true

my

Father

expressed

his wish

to be buried

at

the

junction

of the Teme and Severn rivers at a

time when

I felt he

really

was

fully

conscious

for the

first time

after some

weeks. So

it

must be

under-

stood

that

I

could not

ignore

his wishes

without

great

thought.

Then

Father Gibb S. J.

from St

George's,

Worcester,

was asked to

attend,

and to

him

my

Father reaffirmed

his

faith

in

the Roman

Catholic

Church,

so the whole

question

was,

I am

thankful

o

say,

resolved.

I

have

asked

Mr

Kennedy

o

add

these

facts to the

new

edition

of

his book

and I

hope

that

any

con-

fusion

and doubt

on

this

question

will now be

dispelled.

Westbury-on-Trym

C.

ELGAR

LAKE

MRS)

Corroborative

evidence

as to

Elgar's

reception

of

the

Last

Sacraments s

recorded

in

the Sick

Calls

register

1934)

n the archivesof

St

George's

Church,

Worcester.

(The

ate

Percy

Scholesonce

called

at

the

Presbytery

o

inquire

about the

matter.)

I

do not

know

if

it is still

the

practice,

but

a 'month'smind'

Mass

of

Requiem

was for

many years

offered

there

on

the

23rd of each month.

It

is

now

proposed

to

restore the

organ young

Edward

(and

his father

before

him)

played,

and

a

list

of donors-still

open-includes

some

famous

names.

Interested

readers

may

care to

know

that

subscriptions

may

be

sent

to

'Trustees,Elgar Organ

Fund,'

St

George's

Church,

Sansome

Place,

Worcester.

North

Harrow

H. A.

CHAMBERS

I have

no

intention

of

challenging

he

veracity

of Mr

Kennedy's

account

of

Elgar's

ast

weeks;

but on one

point

of the

complex

psychology

of belief

in

the

still

more

complex

brain

of

a

genius

my

own

memory

and instinct

prompted

me

to

doubt

any

too

black

and white

dismissal

of

Elgar's

faith.

I have

since

confirmed

he

incident

hat

lingered

n

mymemory;

a

Roman

Catholic

family

of

my

acquaintance

pointed

out to me

at

the time

an

extract

from The

Universe

f

March

2 1934

which runs:

Fr R.

H.

Gibb

S.J.,

who

visited

Sir

Edward

shortly

before

he

died, says:

'Almost

a week

ago

in the presence of the doctor (who is not a

Catholic)

he

said:

I

am

a

Catholic,

and

a

Roman

Catholic...

'.

Mr

Valbonesi

has the same

incident

rom another

source,

so

it

appears

that it

was

widely reported.

Moreover,

there

was a move

afoot

at the time

to

bury Elgar

in Westminster

Abbey,

but

it

was

decided

o

bury

him

in Catholic

consecrated

round.

The whole

question

is an elusive

one,

since even

the mostfervently eligious ometimeswaver n their

beliefs,

and the

intensely

emotionalnatureof

Elgar,

plus

an

inconsistency

f attitude hat mustbe

familiar

to

anyone

who

has studied his

letters,

renders

the

question

still more elusive.

My

own

instinct,

for

what

it

is

worth,

suggests

to

me

a man

who would

utter

extravagant

hings

under

provocation

or

pain,

but whose

musicalnature

would

probably

condition

a

deep

unconscious

clinging

to

belief

that

would

emerge

on occasion into

positive

affirmation.

Shoreham-by-Sea

PETER

.

PIRIE

BERLIOZ

FORGERIES

A

number

of hitherto

unknown Berlioz

letters,

drafts,musicalsketches,album eaves,and 'associa-

tion

copies'

have

recently

passed

into

circulation.

Most

of the

letters offer

interesting

information

about

Berlioz's methods

of

composition,

artistic

intentions,

musical

opinions,

and

personal

beliefs,

and have

thus

aroused the

curiosity

of

scholars

working

n

the

period.

It

is

now

clear,

however,

hat

many

of

these

'new'

documents

are

ingenious

forgeries.

We

therefore

advise

collectors,

antiquarian

ealers,

ibrarians,

nd

scholars

to

bear

this

in

mind

when

anything pur-

porting

to be

a Berlioz

autograph

comes their

way.

The

forger

or

forgers

have taken some

trouble to

familiarize

themselves

with

the more

accessible

details

of

the

lives

of Berlioz

and his

friends

in

Paris.

TheNew BerliozEdition will be happyto express

an

opinion

about

the

genuineness

of

any

item sub-

mitted

to

it,

at

Pembroke

College,

Cambridge.

HUGH

MACDONALD

DAVID

CAIRNS

ALAN

TYSON

MOZART'S

MINIMS

In

my

interview

n

the

August

MT

(pp.722-3),

was

discussing

the

fact

that notes

in

the

18th

century

were

not intended

o

be sustained

as

long

as

they

are

generally

today,

and

cited

an aria in Don

Giovanni as

an

example

and

also

bars

2

and 4 of

the

overture.

Mr Frost

(Nov

MT,

pp.1019-20)

seems

not to

have

taken the point that I was referring to the general

practice

in the

18th

century

regarding

note-lengths.

In

my

opinion,

it

would never occur to

an

18th-

century

musician

to

sustain

a

note

unless

specific-

ally

marked

tenuto.

If Mozart had wanted to

obtain

32