These three works represent some of Stockhausen’s earliest musical revolutions, here devoted to furthering Schoenberg’s serial technique beyond the value of pitch into determining ‘every aspect of sound-types and their distribution in time and space.’ Most clearly evident in these unusually calm and unhurried works is the influence of Messiaen, under whom Stockhausen studied in the early fifites, and through him residuals of Webern, particularly the use of pithy, pointillistic gestures and vast shifts in pitch and dynamics.
The opening Refrain No. 11 from 1959 surprisingly brings to mind Feldman in its patient unfolding of sparse, resonant patterns of piano, celesta and percussion. The title refers to pauses which come between periodic bursts of activity, so patient that ‘Restraint’ might be more appropriate, which along with the lounge-y instrumentation almost recalls the work of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Kreuzespiel No 1/7 of 1951 proceeds at a similarly languid pace yet calls for more dramatic gestures. Jagged piano chords jolt the piece to life as the clarinet stutters zigzagging high-low shapes.
Plus/Minus (1963) receives its premiere recording, the score of which began life as a drawing in the sand while Stockhausen was holidaying with his mistress in Sicily, and wound up a complex 14 page ‘set of specifications’ comprising grids, graphic symbols and verbal instructions. Musically Plus/Minus is considerably more immediately involving than its predecessors, as brass and winds tussle for attention amid distant piano and vibraphone decorations. Gestures are repeated into absurdity, from percussive woodpecker taps to looped piano trills, with aggressive flurries from all players quickly curtailed, and depicted as equally futile, perhaps suggesting the creative cul-de-sac resulting from late serialism. Structurally there’s no development or particular highlight, rather the whole hangs suspended, devoid of central focus like a Jackson Pollock, but the engagement of the Ives Ensemble in realising these obscure demands is never less than thrilling.
Joshua Meggitt
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