Karlheinz Stockhausen

Momente (Moments), written between 1962 and 1969, is the work in which Karlheinz Stockhausen turned a large vocal and instrumental form into a collection of self-contained moments that can be rearranged. It is scored for a soprano, four choirs and thirteen instrumentalists, and sets texts from the Song of Songs, letters, invented words and shouts side by side. This edition has the Europe Version of 1972 and an excerpt of the Donaueschingen Version of 1965.

The moments carry the letters K (Klang, sound), D (Dauer, duration) and M (Melodie, melody), and the letters also stand for Karlheinz himself, for Doris and for Mary Bauermeister. The K moments sit in the middle, the D and M groups on either side. The D moments draw on the Song of Songs in Luther's German. Other texts include extracts from a letter by Bauermeister, passages from Malinowski's The Sexual Life of Savages, a line from William Blake, onomatopoeia and audience exclamations. The first version was heard in Cologne on 21 May 1962 with Martina Arroyo as soloist. An expanded version followed in October 1965. The first complete performance was given in Bonn on 8 December 1972, and it opened with the newly composed Moment I(K), which lasts about 27 minutes on this recording. For the Europe Version the soprano is Gloria Davy, the choir is the Kölner Rundfunkchor, Roger Smalley plays the Hammond organ and Harald Bojé the Lowrey organ, and Stockhausen conducts. The Donaueschingen excerpt, conducted by Stockhausen, has Arroyo, the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln and the brothers Aloys Kontarsky and Alfons Kontarsky at the two electric organs.

Published by Stockhausen-Verlag as Stockhausen Edition no. 7, with a booklet in German and English and a separate book of 36 pages with the complete sung texts.