It seems history has made sure composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) was an orphan: his village was destroyed for mining in 1957, his mother was killed by the Nazis in 1941 and his father killed in the war in Hungary in 1945. What results is a restless ambition that has led to 370 compositions, countless publications about musical theory and an enormous influence on musicians of all kind of genres.
The Chöre für Doris (in this record) was his first published work, from 1951. The mini opera Atmen gibt das Leben (also on this record) is from much later. What is not on this record is Stockhausen’s trailblazing works for electronic music. And that piece that made him famous in my country: the Helikopter Streichquartett from 1995, where the four members of a string quartet played from four helicopters, and the sound was mixed and amplified in the concert hall nearby. It was part of the Holland Festival of 1995, but the whole opera where it was part of wasn’t performed until 2012.
More than any other, Stockhausen reminds me of Herman from the second season of the German series Heimat. Was this story meant as homage to the great composer? The fact that both fathers were called Simon maybe is a clue.