There was something deliciously absurd -- and Stockhausen himself would have loved it, we think -- in the way the news of Karlheinz Stockhausen's death came to the foyer of la Scala exactly during intermission at la prima, when the nightmarish fauna of rich people, politicians, socialites aggrieved by their bad plastic surgery, minor TV personalities, skanky escorts, cabana boys, agents, publicists, friends of friends of singers managers, dealers, and various hangers-on learned the news of the great innovator's passing.
The debate -- "genius or charlatan?", that always struck OC as being beside the point, since the two categories aren't and have never been mutually exclusive -- didn't really start because in that most conservative night in that most conservative of opera houses (despite the rare moments of trendy, occasional experimentation in the 1970s) the peoples of la prima, still trying to digest their Wagner, were mostly kinda, huh, yea, Stockhausen, bring teh noize lol klang klang lol.
One of the deeper moments of analysis came when someone said something like "Huh, Stockhausen wrote like, pieces that lasted for days, lol". And it's true and everything ridiculous you can say about Stockhausen is probably true, as well, but the point that almost everybody misses -- or chooses to ignore -- is that Stockhausen right in the middle of that big ole mess that is his body of work has composed music of incredible, blinding beauty. Certainly superior to most of his contemporaries -- especially some of the gloomier ones.
The good news now come thanks to that sweet bear of a man, Oliver Knussen (we hereby admit our pro-Ollie bias: he is an admirer and friend of Hans Werner Henze, and if you like HWH, well, you're fine by OC):
London’s Southbank Centre has announced plans for a festival to
celebrate the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died in December.
The week-long event, which opens on November 1, will be curated by
Oliver Knussen, to whom Stockhausen had entrusted the performance of
what turned out to be the German composer’s last work, Zodiac. This will be one of several UK premieres during the week, along with several pieces from the KLANG cycle including Glanz for ensemble and Freude for two Harps. Other performances include Mantra, Stimmung and Trans.
