Karlheinz Stockhausen

*2022 Stock.* Karlheinz Stockhausen – “Synthi-Fou / Dienstags-Abschied ” "A double –CD like this one falls right into that crystal clarity, giving yet more insight into how his art is achieved, piece by piece, structurally – but as it is with human beings or a flower or an Earth sun rise, the result is much more and something else altogether than the sum of all the parts… and somewhere in that realm lies the real mystery; that elusive, vibrant core of beauty and truth which can’t be accounted for by mere speculation or the working of an accountant – so don’t get fooled by too scientific musicologists: the woods is something else than its number of trees.  You may gather all the facts together in a neat pile of observations and meticulous calculations, but you’ll just distance yourself from the music, from the art, from your own experience of it, if you’re not very careful.  If you’re not aware of this, aware of the difference between the understanding of how the notes are arranged or how the pitches are laid out or how motifs come and go – and how the music rises in beauty within you… then you’re like the ignorant archeologist who finds a Dead Sea scroll and studies the chemical make up of the ink that was used to write the spiritual messages, without ever letting the significance and the implications of the message take hold of him and alter his conscience and his mind.  Musicology is a science in itself, but one has to keep in mind that it is something else than the music. It cannot even describe or in any way explain or keep track of the effect of the music in a human spirit – but seen as it is; a meticulous science into the technical, historical – etcetera – circumstances of a musical composition, it can be tolerated, and must not always be regarded as a sign of artistic or emotional impotence.  This said, for the mindful and discriminating listener or musician all the knowledge about the structural science of Stockhausen’s music can only be of good, so even if it is unusual – or perhaps unique – to release CDs with the sole intent of casting some light on the make up of certain compositions, it is very interesting to listen through Edition 42 of the Stockhausen Edition, and perhaps especially so for the more trained listeners who are musicians and composers.

" (Excerpt from Ingvar Nordin / Sonoloco extensive review)