Search - Karlheinz Stockhausen :: Sönstevold Plays Stockhausen

There is music in the air

01/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review was written after listening to the Swedish release of this CD. Knut Sönstevold is a composer, solo artist, and the first basson player of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The CD presents four pieces for bassoon by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The rendering of 2 of these pieces is rather impressive and makes this CD a must to the public with interest in Stockhausen's music. Both "Solo" (for melodic instrument with feed-back) and "Spiral" (for a soloist and short-wave receiver - "there is music in the air", and this music is received by the soloist on a shortwave radio, and this input is then imitated, transformed and transcended) allow the player a lot of freedom within the framework of instructions given by the composer, and it is in this aspect that Sönstevold's personal interpretation really "makes a difference." In the liner notes Sönstevold recognizes that large portions of the musical elements were prepared in detail, and that in the case of "Spiral" he had pre-programmed the short-wave receiver with stations that usually provided the kind of sound that he wanted to use. As a compensation for this "prepared improvisation" the CD provides live recordings of these pieces. In the case of "Spiral" I think that Sönstevold's interpretation compares favourably to other recordings available outside the "Stockhausen Edition", such as the (maybe too free) improvisations by Eberhard Blum (Hat Art CD 6132) or the version by Joseph Celli (O.O.Disc # 1). By the way, does somebody who listened to the Celli recording really believe that "Yankee doodle" was found by chance "in the air"?The two other pieces ("In Freundschaft" and "Tierkreis") have been recorded often in several sampling CDs of "contemporary classics" with different instruments. The 12 melodies of "Tierkreis" were originally composed for music boxes to be used in "Musik im Bauch", a most beautiful scenic piece for 6 percussionists and a large birdman containing music boxes in the belly. These melodies can also be performed with several instrumental combinations, and this CD presents duos (bassoon and piano) and alternating solos (piano). This piece would certainly be appreciated even by the classical listener who dislike avant-garde music. Concerning "In Freundschaft", there are versions for nearly all melodic instruments ranging three octaves, as well as a special version for the recorder. In the bassoon version the player has to perform some choreography and, of course, to be dressed in a teddy bear costume. To my disapointment a photograph taken during the recording was printed with the liner notes, revealing that Sönstevold dared not to follow the composer's instruction concerning the teddy bear costume. In all other aspects this was a most beautiful rendering of a piece that is quite demanding of the performer even without the scenic complements."