tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-81468238383202888512007-12-10T13:54:00.000Z2007-12-10T13:54:00.000Z<I>Email received:</I><BR/><BR/>Stockhausen was a big influence on my listening life from a very young age. I was "accidentally" introduced to Stockhausen when I was 9 and mother had bought a whole bunch of a series on DGG created specifically for the Canadian market called "Festival of Hits" featuring a specific composer or a genre (the discs were pressed in Germany, the cover are was by the incredible Holger Mathies" and each excerpt featured a statement on the jacket that said "the whole thing available on DGG" then the serial number. The series itself was in the 2538 000 series, except for the double LP which was in the 2721 000 series. I later became close friends with the person who put the series together. ANYWAY.....)<BR/><BR/>At first, I thought it was a joke, but I quickly became engrossed. I am proud to say that by the time I finished High School I had ALL the DG stockhausen releases. Not hard to do since they were being quickly deleted. I paid as little as $1.99 (1979 Cdn prices) for Kurzwellen, and .99(!) for Opus 1970. I even got the POLYDOR German release of Sternklang for $4.99 (all those discs were sold off by a dealer for me when I dumped my vinyl at an average of $90.00 a disc! D'OH!). I sued to play Stimmung for anyone who would listen. I still prefer the version of Kontackt without the live instruments. <BR/><BR/>People really forget that Stockhausen was amazingly structured. And his Aus Licht cycle is an amazing bit of theatre.Too many people tried to emulate him, which is why there was a plethora of electronic dreck out there. Having him as an influence was good, but copying outright was a mistake. His style definetly shows the influence of Messiaen without overtly copying it.<BR/><BR/>His music needs a serious re-evaluation now that he is gone and the body of his work complete. <BR/><BR/>Cheers<BR/><BR/>David CavlovicPliablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.com