Prozession (For Tamtam, Viola, Elektronium, Piano, Filters And Potentiometers) by Karlheinz Stockhausen Candide (CE 31001) Publication date 1968

 Karlheinz Stockhausen, born in 1928 near Koln. 25 com-

positions (several of which take up an evening), namely 19

for instrumental and vocal ensembles, four electronic works

and two electronic works with instruments. All scores are

published by Universal-Edition, Vienna (U.S.A.: Th. Presser

Co.) Two volumes, TEXTE I/II, publisher Dumont-Schau-

berg, Kéln. His first monograph is by K. Worner, Verlag

Tonger, KoIn-Rodenkirchen. Since 1956 he has toured with

various ensembles, as player and conductor, in all coun-

tries, with prolonged stays in the United States (concerts,

lectures, and composition seminars) and Japan.

Johannes G. Fritsch, born in 1941 in Bensheim-Auerbacn.

Studied from 1961-65 at the University and the Academy

of Music in Kéln. Director of a music theory class at the

Cologne Conservatory. Compositions: chamber music,

works for instruments and electronic equipment (PARTITA,

MODULATION lil), one electronic piece (FABULA RASA),

one composition for orchestra (AKROASIS).

Aloys Kontarsky, born in 1931 in Iserlohn, studied at the

Academies of Music in KéIn and Hamburg, last with Eduard

Erdmann. Received, together with his brother Alfons, 1st

prize for piano duo in the ‘‘Internationale Musikwettbewerb

der Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”’

in 1955. Since then, the duo Kontarsky has played in all

European countries and has undertaken several tours to

North and South America, South Africa, as well as the Near

and Far East. Aloys Kontarsky began his association with

Stockhausen in 1962. In 1966—in Darmstadt—he played

for the first time all eleven KLAVIERSTUCKE in one concert.

Harold Bojé, born in 1934 in Gottingen, studied piano with

Wladimir Horbowski at the Stuttgart Academy of Music.

Since 1961 he has been director of a piano class at the

Wuppertal conservatory. He received the Kranichstein Prize

in 1959, and the first prize for interpretation of new music

in international competition under the Netherland spon-

sorship ‘‘Gaudeamus” in 1966 (with Stockhausen: Piano

piece X). Concerts of traditional and new music in all coun-

tries and major cities of Europe.

Alfred Alings, born in 1923 in Bottrop, took studies in per-

cussion, violin and piano at the Max Reger Conservatory in

Sondershausen and in Essen. Since 1948 he has been a

member of the Essen Symphony Orchestra and instructor

for percussion at the Essen Conservatory and at the Folk-

wang Academy for Music in Essen.

Rolf Gehlhaar, composer, born in 1943 in Breslau, emt-

grated to the United States in 1953. He studied philosophy

and music at Yale University, later at the University of

California, Berkeley, and is currently working with Stock-

hausen.

By KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

In May, 1967, I composed Prozession for the en-

semble with which I regularly go on concert

tours: Fred Alings and Rolf Gehlhaar (tamtam),

Johannes Fritsch (viola), Harald Bojé (elektro-

nium), and Aloys Kontarsky (piano).

The tamtam, as in Mikrophonie I, is picked up

with a microphone held and moved by the micyro-

phonist, and the viola has a contact microphone.

These two microphones are connected to two elec-

tric filters and potentiometers which I operate

during the performance. These two potentiome-

ter outputs lead to four loudspeakers in the four

corners of the hall, so that I can let the filtered

sounds of each instrument wander continuously

between two speakers.

A musical process is formulated in the score

with methods similar to ones I had already ap-

plied in Plus-Minus, Mikrophonie I, and Mikro-

phonie II. The musical events are not notated in

detail, but are rather variations of events taken

from my earlier compositions, which the instru-

mentalists play from memory. The tamtam

player and the microphonist refer to Mikrophonie

I, the violist to Gesang der Jiinglinge, Kontakte,

and Momente, the elektronium player to Tele-

musik and Solo, and the pianist to Klavierstiicke

I-XI and Kontakte. I play the filters and poten-

tiometers with a technique similar to that of

Mikrophonie I.

For every event the score prescribes for each

player the degree of change with which he must

react, either to the previous event that he has

played himself or to an event that another has

played. Thus, in the moment of performance, an

“aural tradition” is established between my ear!-

ier music and this Prozession, as well as among

the players. Fe

Since the first rehearsals, during which every

player reacted mostly only to himself, continu-

ously bringing new events into play, we have

now —after several performances— become an

ensemble in which the players react strongly to

one another. Single events undergo chain reac-

tions of imitation, transformation, and mutation,

all players often binding themselves for long time

spans to one musical network of feedback.

The premiere performance for Prozession was

on May 21, 1967, in Helsinki. Further perform-

ances followed on the 24th in Stockholm, 26th in

Oslo, 29th at the Bergen Festival, June Ist in

Kopenhagen, 3rd in London. This recording was

made on September 2nd, 1967, in connection with

a performance on August 26th at the Interna-

tional Vacation Courses for New Music, Darm-

stadt. During this recording session we played

three versions, of which we chose the third. It

was played without interruption. This stereo re-

cording, without cuts or the slightest changes, is

a record of a live performance.

Photo: © Werner Schoiz, Koéin

TMK(S) ® CANDIDE © Marca(s) Registrada(s) « Printed in U.S.A.