At NEC, six hours of Stockhausen

February 27, 2009|Matthew Guerrieri, Globe Correspondent

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At times, the sound has a thunderous roar - literally playing up a storm. It's a touch of German romanticism - according to Schopenhauer, one path to the sublime is to "have before our eyes, on a large scale, the battle of the raging elements." Another way? To contemplate "the infinite greatness of the universe in space and time." (Play a vibration in the rhythm of the universe.)

7:25 Callithumpian wit appears in "Intensität" ("Intensity"), with its directive to "play single sounds / with such dedication / until you feel the warmth / that radiates from you." Percussionist John Andress's single sound is the warmth-inducing jingle of a cocktail shaker.

The piece also displays the unpredictability of group intuition, at several points seeming to end, only to have flutist Anita Chandavarkar start it up again. (To be fair, Stockhausen instructs the group to "play on and sustain it / as long as you can".)

8:40 The 20 players still in the hall (a total of 34 have lent their talents on the day) unite for the concert's finale, "Setz die Segel zur Sonne" ("Set Sail for the Sun"): "slowly move your tone / until you arrive at complete harmony / and the whole sound turns to gold."

Conclusion

The group does not perform the last piece of "Aus den Sieben Tagen," "Ankunft" ("Arrival"). "Give up everything," it begins, "we were on the wrong track."

Does Stockhausen mean schematic practices of musical composition? Societal categorizations of music as craft rather than spiritual practice? Perhaps the European tradition itself - civilization's previous spasm had claimed both his parents, after all, and seemed on the verge of unraveling again.

On the other hand, lost in his own situation, Stockhausen wasn't even aware of the waves of revolutionary protest - riots and strikes sweeping through France - that broke the very week he wrote "Aus den Sieben Tagen."

The vibrations took precedence. "Begin with yourself," "Ankunft" continues: "you are a musician."