No. 69: HELIKOPTER-STREICHQUARTETT
(Helicopter String Quartet, 3rd Act of MITTWOCH AUS LICHT)
for String Quartet and 4 Helicopters
1992/1993 [ca. 31']
HELIKOPTER-STREICHQUARTETT is the 3rd scene of
Stockhausen's dramatic music work MITTWOCH AUS LICHT (WEDNESDAY FROM LIGHT),
which was the 6th-composed entry of his 7-part, 29-hour opera
cycle LICHT (Light). LICHT is a work for acoustic and electronic operatic forces, divided
into the 7 days of the week (one opera for each day). This opera cycle
revolves around 3 archetype characters, MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER, and
over the 29 hours each of these characters are introduced, come into
conflict, face temptation and finally come into union. The music is
almost entirely based on a "super-formula",
which is a 3-layered melodic-thematic representation of the 3
characters. These formula-themes are together and separately threaded
throughout the opera's vocal and instrumental fabric. Story-wise, actors
and narrative can (and often do) change from act to act and the
libretto text is sometimes made up of non-traditional grammar or even
purely phonetic sounds.
Development
In the early 90s Stockhausen was asked to write a string quartet but initially refused, since he preferred to avoid musical forms developed in previous centuries. However, he soon had a dream of 4 string quartet players in 4 separate helicopters, whose performances were being transmitted to TV monitors. This was later followed by a real (waking) sighting of 4 helicopters in the skies above the Rhine River, so he took these as signs that the piece was meant to be. Eventually this became the 3rd Scene of MITTWOCH AUS LICHT.
In MITTWOCH's 1st Scene, an a cappella vocal group performs in the top floor of a skyscraper. In the 2nd Scene, musicians of an orchestra suspended by cranes play, while swinging through the auditorium. In this 3rd Scene, the string players are actually in the sky, kilometers apart. The 4th and final Scene takes place in a single room again, but the setting is a "galactic setting for delegates of the universe". Obviously the theme of spatial expansion is an important one.
Form
The piece starts with a bit of verbal moderation in the auditorium, and continues as the string quartet players walk out to their respective helicopters.
Then, as the helicopter engines start and they lift off towards a predetermined altitude, the players play an "Ascent" phase, mainly of slow upwards tremolo glissandi.
After about a minute or two the string quartet proper begins ("Flight"), and Stockhausen here uses the compositional themes from his superformula for LICHT in order to develop melodic trajectories. The LICHT superformula has 3 "voices" (staff lines) for MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER. The string quartet navigates through this superformula 3 times over 18 minutes (with a brief coda). The 3 cycles are also punctuated 9 times by vocal "counting" in different "voices" (meant to suggest vocal styles from around the world) in a round-robin sequence. Each count to 13 signals the beginning of a new cycle iteration (the counting is actually a part of the LUCIFER part of the LICHT super-formula and occurs in many places in LICHT). The Flight phase is followed by a slow descending glissandi of about 2-3 minutes ("Descent" phase) while the pilots make a synchronized descent.
After the string players return to the stage the Moderator interviews the performers (including the helicopter pilots).
Section
Bar
Stockhausen Edition 53a Track Durations
Event
Arditti Qrtt Edition 35 Track Timings, Features
0
7:43
Introduction Moderation
1
1:27
Turbines start
0:10
2
0
3:10
Ascent (Aufstieg)
1:58 (Slow upwards glissandi, accel. tremolo)
3
1
4:38
Flight (Flug): 1st Cycle
5:16 (harmonics, sul pont., bow bouncing)
4
6
Count to 7, then 1
(Vocal style A)
6:47 (Vln 2 microtonal)
5
16
Count to 5
(Vocal style B)
8:26
6
20
Count to 13
(Vocal style C)
9:32 (sul pont, harm.)
7
22
9:17
2nd Cycle
9:55 (bow bouncing)
8
27
Count to 7, then 1
(Violin 2 only w hissing)
12:58 (high freq sul. pont., free noises, harm.)
9
37
Count to 5
16:17
10
42
Count to 13
18:26
11
43
4:38
3rd Cycle
19:12 (Vln 1 bow bouncing)
12
48
Count to 7, then 1
(Viola only,
hoarse climbing pitches)
The 1st measure below (top half) shows how the HELIKOPTER-STREICHQUARTETT uses the same thematic material as the 1st measure of the LICHT superformula, except that the LUCIFER staff is on top, followed by the MICHAEL and EVA staves. This order changes for each of the 3 LICHT superformula iterations (though ultimately that doesn't mean much since Stockhausen spreads the notes out to 4 different lines anyways - see below). Additionally the formulas are transposed in each cycle to match certain pitches in the MITTWOCH section of LICHT.
After Stockhausen put down the formula on 4 staves, he drew lines in 4 colors connecting the notes across the 3 voices, essentially redistributing the notes from the 3 LICHT voices to 4 string quartet voices, and drawing pitch curves to connect the notes in each instrument part. The 4 staff lines in the bottom half (below) show the 4 string parts "untangled" for the same music material above it.
Beginning of 1st cycle.
Below is an example of the instructions for the 9 vocal inserts.
Live Performance
The Elysian Quartet performing in 2012:
Making of doc from Venice Biennial in 2013:
Sound Impressions
I've always liked this piece for its vitality. The fast tremolos are pretty fascinating as they attempt to blend with the helicopter rotor noises, and the rotor noises themselves are interesting to listen to. I wondered if it might have been nice to have the "real sound" tracks of the helicopters in isolation as a bonus, as Stockhausen has done for the electronic parts of many other works (SIRIUS, OKTOPHONIE, etc...) but I suppose since the score does not have actual flight instructions it would be confusing to call it a "Stockhausen composition."
I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing but because of the constant micro-tonal glissing I never really feel like I'm hearing the LICHT formula. I suppose that's a testimony to the adaptability of the formula to different compositional permutations. However I wish I had felt more of a sense of structural change during the flight phase. Based on the timings it appears that the 2nd cycle is generally a slower tempo than the 1st and 3rd cycles but because of the fast tremolo playing it all seems pretty consistent, for better or worse.
In any case, this is a deep listen for it's subtle differences, and while watching a video of the performance one gets the feeling of being at a NASA space launch as much as at a chamber music recital, which even alone is quite an achievement. This is probably Stockhausen's most famous work of the last 30 years and is also probably the only one of his records to be sold at Walmart.
Introduction
While rehearsing LIBRA (part of the science-fiction themed work SIRIUS for vocal soloists, trumpet, bass clarinet and electronic tape), Stockhausen was inspired to write HARMONIEN for bass clarinet (solo), specifically for Suzanne Stephens. Shortly afterwards, he wrote other instrument-specific versions for flute and trumpet. HARMONIEN ended up becoming the 5th hour of KLANG, Stockhausen's cycle of works for the 24 hours of the day (of which hours 1 through 21 were completed).
These 3 individual versions of HARMONIEN were then taken apart and layered on top of each other to form KLANG's 6th hour: SCHÖNHEIT (Beauty), a trio version using the same basic material, split into 5 continuous sections. This was followed by KLANG hours 7 through 12: BALANCE, GLÜCK (Bliss), HOFFNUNG (Hope), GLANZ (Brilliance), TREUE (Fidelity) and ERWACHEN (Awakening), all of which are re-sequenced, rearranged and expanded versions of SCHÖNHEIT for different instrumental ensembles. This method of using different instrumental ensembles on different sequences of events of the same basic material is kind of reminiscent of Stockhausen's prior habit of making re-arranged versions of pieces like TIERKREIS and IN FREUNDSCHAFT, combined with the mobile-like mutability of pieces like MOMENTE or MIKROPHONIE I.
KLANG 5: HARMONIEN (HARMONIES)
HARMONIEN, the "ground zero" of these works, is created from 5 pitch groups having 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 notes (derived from KLANG's 24-note pitch row, plus a 25th 1st note repeat). A group is stated relatively slowly (each time in a different melodic and rhythmic way) and then alternated with 1 to 4 "echos", each made up of usually fast repeating patterns of the group pitches without rhythm, and separated by pauses. The effect Stockhausen aims to create with the fast repeating patterns
is to create "a harmonic effect, like a vibrating chord". These echoes also change speed and dynamic (and sometimes register). From a rhythmic standpoint, the initial melodic statements have rhythms derived from the 12 families explored in KLANG's 1st Hour, HIMMELFAHRT (the 12 degrees of rhythmic densities).
Additionally the piece is split into 5 sections, at the beginning of each, the player turns in a circle. Just before and during the 5th section there are 2 short cadenzas, first in a lower register, and then a higher register. Besides this general framework, Stockhausen adds drama and personality using trills, microtonal glissandi, changing vibrato, etc...as well as some extra cadential material between the statement/echo structures (each of which also have a different tempo).
Score
An example of a group statement followed by its echoes is below. In this case a low 6-note melody is stated, followed by 3 higher
register echoes of 3, 2 and 3 ostinato repeats, all with changing
dynamics.
Below is part of the treble clef "cadenza" near the end of HARMONIEN.
"Klappentriller" means to trill on the instrument keys but produce
nearly the same pitch, producing a kind of warbling effect.
As mentioned earlier, the material from the 3 different solo versions of HARMONIEN was used to create new multi-layered polyphonic compositions for 6 trios (and a septet below, GLANZ). By juxtaposing these strongly identifiable figures (themes vs. patterns), some very amazing textural counterpoint is achieved. Because of the different tempos between the 3 layers, Stockhausen sets things up so that every few measures there is an ensemble pause and the instruments realign. This, and the way that Stockhausen sometimes adds extended rests for individual instruments, keeps things very coherent. In fact this series of works ends up being possibly Stockhausen's most traditionally lyrical in years, which is quite amazing considering the nature of its parts. It's quite a feat that these layered "vibrating chords", expressed in so many varying permutations, never feel like unrelated threads, but always an organic whole. These vertical layers can be explored very simply, but on closer
examination each combination reveals its own inner beauty, much like a
crystal formation.
One possible way to visualize the structure of a trio passage in simplified form could be this:
In this picture I used different sizes to indicate the 3-7 note phrase, followed by small repetitions of grouped characters to show the ostinato "consequents". The vertical line is to show the realignments that occur between the 3 players (this is not an actual example from the score). Also in this visualization the larger characters are not exactly large versions of the small characters, since usually the melodic themes are changed in register. This is of course a very basic "imaginary" example and doesn't include events such as duo and solo moments, as well as times when 2 or 3 players fall into unison.
KLANG 10: GLANZ (BRILLIANCE)
GLANZ is scored for septet, but is actually more like a clarinet-bassoon-viola trio with a featured guest instrument in some of its sections. The featured instrument is included in "insert" material added to the ends of the 1st, 2nd and 4th sections and does not have the usual statement/echoes construction. The insert for the 1st Section with add'l Oboe recalls the ending of HOPE. The insert for the 4th Section with tuba features the ending from BLISS. The Coda is a pre-echo of AWAKENING. Structure
This table shows the (re)sequencing of the sections in each work, as well as the role (high, middle, low register) of its individual instruments.
Section
KLANG 6: Schonheit (Beauty)
KLANG 7: Balance
KLANG 8: Glück (Bliss)
KLANG 9: Hoffnung (Hope)
KLANG 10: Glanz (Brilliance)
KLANG 11: Treue (Fidelity)
KLANG 12: Erwachen (Awakening)
1st
I
V + E. Hn Solo
IV
III
Intro + I + Oboe Qrtt
V
Intro + I
2nd
II
IV + E. Hn. Solo
II
I
II + Quintet w. Tpt & Tbn
III
IV
3rd
III
III + Trio Cadenza
V
V
III + Clr, Bassoon, Vla (w text)
IV
III
4th
IV
II
I
II
IV + Tuba Qrtt
I
I
5th
V
I + Coda
III + Coda
IV + Coda
V + Coda
II + Coda
V
Stage Color
turquoise blue
bluish green
yellow-green
yellowish-green
sulphur green
zinc yellow
bright yellow
Voice:
High
Flute
Flute
Oboe
Violin
Clarinet
Eb Clarinet
Sopr, Sax
Middle
Trumpet
Eng. Horn
Eng. Horn
Viola
Viola
Bassett Horn
Trumpet
Low
Bass Clr
Bass Clr
Bassoon
Cello
Bassoon
Bass Clr
Cello
Spoken Text
"Lob sei Gott" ("May God be
praised")
"Gloria in excelsis Deo / et in terra
pax hominibus bonae voluntatis" (Glory to God in the highest / and on earth peace, goodwill to all
people)
"Noten zu Klängen zu
Kreislauf zu Glück" ([Written] notes to sounds to circular movement to
bliss), "GOTT ist GLÜCK" (God is
bliss).
"Dank sei Gott Danke Gott für das
Werk… Hoffnung" (Praise be to God… Thank God for the work… Hope")
"Gloria in excelsis Deo / et in terra
pax hominibus bonae voluntatis" (Glory to God in the highest / and on earth peace, goodwill to all
people)
"Treue zu Gott" (Fidelity to God)
"Erwachen in Gott" (Awakening in
God)
As described in
Harmonies and the Path from Beauty to Awakening: Hours 5 to 12 of Stockhausen's Klang" (Jerome Kohl)
Perspectives of New Music 50, nos. 1 & 2 (Winter–Summer 2012)
Live Performance
Each of the hours of KLANG from 6 through 12 have specific colors for their performance attire. HARMONIEN features several points where the performer spins in a circle to mark the beginning of a new secton. GLANZ also includes a light sculpture as part of its performance which changes in brightness during the performance.
Sound Impressions
These works are really quite beautiful and hypnotic. The simple idea of using a pitch row to generate 5 serially-distributed chords and "vibrate" them through repeated ostinato patterns might sound structurally clinical, but Stockhausen uses every trick in the book to add life and drama to these pieces. Most importantly, he (as always) breaks his owns rules when the needs of the music transcend the conceptual framework of the composition.
The chamber ensemble works really show off Stockhausen's ability write in a more traditionally lyrical style, and wind up being possibly some of his most accessibly poetic writing since his chamber arrangements for TIERKREIS. At the same time the juxtapositions of these "looping" phrases with the expanding and contracting melodic shapes provide for some amazingly witty and complex contrapuntal shapes.
Amazingly enough, Stockhausen's next work, COSMIC PULSES would be a complete change, so much so that even he admitted in one interview that it might not even fall under the category of "music composition"!
No. 27: SPIRAL
for a soloist (any instrument or combination of instruments, voice) with shortwave radio receiver
(1968) [complete ca. 135', sections 15'–25']
Development:
SPIRAL was composed in 1968 while Stockhausen was living in Connecticut (United States). It was developed through his association with a guitarist student, Michael Lorimer, and originally dedicated to him (tho never performed by him). SPIRAL had it's greatest success when it was premiered by the oboist Heinz Holliger (and subsequently performed more than 1300 times!) at the Osaka 1970 World's Fair Expo in Stockhausen's own performance pavilion, a speaker-lined spherical building where Stockhausen could literally send the oboe and shortwave sounds "spiraling" around the room (right).
The basic idea for SPIRAL is that after an initial period of random shortwave radio tuning, the performer mimics a chosen radio sound (or station), and then develops this interpretation through addition and reduction of different musical elements, such as duration, register and volume. Since shortwave radio is naturally mired in static and "noise", the performer can get pretty creative as to how exactly he executes the instructions.
This piece falls into the same kind of category as Stockhausen's other "controlled improvisation" scores (sometimes called "process plan" pieces), such as KURZWELLEN, PROZESSION, EXPO, and POLE, where the score has symbolic "plus-minis" notation instead of traditional noteheads on staffs. The ultimate result of these kinds of works would later come in the form of AUS DEN SEBEN TAGEN, which is based entirely on text instructions only.
Shortwave Radio:
"Doesn't almost everyone own a short-wave receiver? And doesn't everyone have a voice?
Wouldn't it be an artful way of life for everyone, to transform the unexpected (which one can receive on a short-wave radio)
into new music - i.e. into a consciously-formed sound process which awakens all
intuitive, mental, sensitive and artistic faculties, and makes them become creative,
so that this awareness and these faculties rise like a spiral?!"
- from Stockhausen Edition CD 15 booklet notes
It might be worthwhile to examine how shortwave radio works and how it sounds in order to make it easier to follow the development of the piece and distinguish the radio sounds from the soloist's actions. Shortwave is able to receive long-distance broadcasts from around the globe because it's wavelength can bounce off the atmosphere ionosphere (and go around the curve of the Earth). Some frequencies work better at night, and some work better during the daytime. Additionally, unlike the Internet, it is impossible for a government to censor content. Some of the content available on shortwave radio includes amateur radio stations, utility stations (weather, sea conditions, military, news), number stations (a voice reading out numbers), private 2-way communications, and general audience stations such as Radio Taiwan, Voice of America, Radio France Internationale, BBC World Service, etc... But most importantly: "shortwave transmissions often have bursts of distortion, and "hollow"
sounding loss of clarity at certain aural frequencies, altering the
harmonics of natural sound and creating at times a strange "spacey"
quality due to echoes and phase distortion." (Wikipedia).
Form:
The score itself does not have an obvious
over-arching form, but most performances do have a certain structural rhythm to them.
In a typical performance, the first few seconds involve quiet shortwave radio
tuning, with the performer roughly imitating the changing sounds as the
tuner dial is rotated back and forth. Eventually a "station" (or a noise) is decided
upon, and the shortwave volume goes up, in order to "state the theme", and the performer does a full imitation to the best of his ability (in general, imitation can only limit itself to a few prominent characteristics of a shortwave sound event, and multi-layered events are interpreted by switching back and forth between layers). This
"Event" is followed by more Events where the performer puts his radio-imitation theme through
variations and different forms of atomization, separated by quieter pauses of varying lengths. Many times the radio
plays quietly in the background, or fades in and out (same station
though). Each of these variation Events is typically 30 to 90 seconds
long, and separated by pauses of at least 3 seconds.
At a certain point the player begins searching around stations
again and the cycle begins again, with a new "radio-theme", but with different sequences of
variations, as indicated by the score. Alot of times this new cycle is characterized by either a different instrument or a new "technique" on the same instrument. These "theme and variation" groups can be as long as 5 minutes in some cases, such as when a player develops an Event for awhile before dipping back into the well of random radio sound again. Usually (but not always) a special event called a "SPIRAL" is hit where the player does a kind of holistic cadenza.
In most recordings the sounds are also moving in space. These spatial movements are not part of the score itself, but ad-libbed (however in Stockhausen's next work, POLE, even the spatial movements are scored). In Osaka, Stockhausen had access to a "sound mill" where he was able to use a kind of "crank" box to make signals go in different circular motions.
For the most part, this is pretty much all that's necessary to know to enjoy the piece. The next part goes more into detail from a performer's point of view.
Score:
1st 20 Events with additional handwritten notes by Michael Vetter for his performance.
(S) indicates shortwave radio.
The performer can use any combination of instruments, including voice. In order to allow a soloist to simultaneously play an instrument and adjust radio controls, anything goes (including the use of tape-loops and echo/delay). All radio sounds must be at least a little noisy, "clear" signals are avoided.
The piece typically begins with a performer quietly tuning the radio until he finds a station that he/she likes, after which he turns it up and imitates it (with the radio still going). This the 1st Event. All following Events can be with or without the radio. However, if an Event is preceded by a vertical divider line ("|") then shortwave is used to generate a new radio-theme (such as in Event 2 in the excerpt above). This last instruction is not explicitly mentioned in the score, but is included in EXPO (which is based on SPIRAL), and is used this way in most interpretations.
Events are separated by pauses, where a player does one of the following:
- Be silent
- Let the radio play quietly
- Tune the radio ("musically") to find something that will satisfy the next Event instruction below (during this "tuning pause" the player can also comment on the radio output instrumentally and/or vocally)
The score signs "+", "-", and "=" indicate how the new Event reacts to the previous Event, as in "more", "less", or "the same of" four parameters (see PROZESSION):
D - Duration (of the Event) R - Register İ - Intensity (loudness) G - Rhythmic Segmentation (number of attacks/rests during an Event; think "words in a sentence" - G is for glieder (German, "limbs")
Everything else from the previous Event (rhythm, melody, timbre, harmony, etc) is imitated as much as possible until a new radio Event occurs. So in a way a particular performance is to some extent a sequence of radio-sound "themes" and variations on that theme. The length of each radio-theme section is determined by the performer, depending on when he plays a new radio-accompanied event.
To satisfy the +/-/= instruction for G (# of attacks), the radio's volume knob and tuner knobs are turned rhythmically. Alternatively the radio can be left alone and the instrumental part can add accents to create "segmentation". The segments themselves also sometimes are of 4 types:
P - Points (single notes/chords) Gr - Groups (fast 1-7 notes/chords) M - Mass (dense cloud of notes/chords) Mix - Mix of all 3 types
Other transformation symbols include the below. The instructions in BLUE are to be interpreted with instrument/voice only (with the shortwave optionally very quiet in the background)
OR
Ornamentation (related to Duration)
POLY
Polyphony (including adding
reverb/delay, related to Register)
Per
Periodic repeat of a motif from
the previous Event (somewhat related to Rhythmic segmentation)
[:x:]
Repeat previous symbol x-number
of times and re-apply modifier each time
E
Echo of previous event, reset
parameters for next Event
PERM->POLY
Permute the segments, then
layer them (could be through tape loops)
BAND
Band segments by playing them as
fast as possible (into a blur) and then make these fused groups into segments
(blocks of sound in the rhythm of the original Event)."Play
until exhaustion".
(BAND most likely comes from the concept of "bandwidth" in electronic music. In that case, all of the frequencies between 2 values (such as 800 and 1200 Hz) are completely filled with random noise. This is sometimes called "colored noise", as opposed to "white noise").
AKK
Create an arpeggiated chord from
the segments and repeat them in the rhythm of the original Event
[:+:] (approx. symbol)
Expand (or contract) through repetition the
melodic, rhythmic and dynamic intervals to the maximum
[:*:] (approx. symbol)
Take a segment and continuously
alternate it with the other segments (like a rondo?)
And last but not least, the SPIRAL symbol:
"SPIRAL - Repeat the previous Event several times, each time transposing it in all parameters AND TRANSCEND IT BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE PLAYING/SINGING TECHNIQUE THAT YOU HAVE USED UP TO THIS POINT and then also BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS OF YOUR INSTRUMENT/VOICE.
For this all visual and theatrical possibilities are also brought into play.
FROM THIS POINT RETAIN WHAT YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED IN THE EXTENSION OF YOUR LIMITS, AND USE IT IN THIS AND ALL FUTURE PERFORMANCES OF 'SPIRAL'."
Finally, a player can end at any of 9 specified points, and then pick up from that point at a later performance. At this point in time, only Michael Vetter has recorded an "integral" (complete) version.
Recordings:
Since SPIRAL is "for a soloist", this means that the instrumentation can be of any kind, as long as there is only one performer. The earliest performances of SPIRAL were with oboe, but perhaps the most exploratory were the ones recorded by Peter Eötvös and Harald Bojé on "experimental" instruments (Stockhausen Edition no. 15). Eötvös' recording has him playing "electrochord", which in this case is basically an Hungarian zither wired to an EMS Synthi A synthesizer (see links at bottom). His bowing and plucking is transformed by the synth into sounds which mesh well with radio interference noise. It's a very exploratory recording and has some incredible sonics on it, but I'm not sure it really displays Stockhausen's piece so much as display what crazy sounds can be created from a zither processed with a synthesizer. The same is true of Bojé's "electronium" performance, also based on a modified accordion-like synthesizer. On a side note, this recording leaves out the "searching for a good station" knob twiddling sounds. Or perhaps they did it silently and just chose radio stations at random?
Cathy Milliken's performance (Stockhausen Edition no. 45) with oboe, voice and didgeridoo highlights the structure of the piece a little more, and she changes radio stations a bit more often than Eötvös and Bojé do. Because she performs with 3 very different instruments, her version also has a greater feeling of being made up of thematic sections.
The ultimate recording has to be Michael Vetter's almost 2.5-hour epic performance (Stockhausen Edition no. 46) using mainly just voice (and shortwave radio of course). Unlike every other recording, he actually performs the entire score from beginning to end (most people stop at the end of the "first movement"). His performance is also probably the most immediately entertaining, since his vocalizations are completely without reservation - in other words, it's sometimes pretty hilarious what he comes up with.
Sound Impressions:
SPIRAL is a pretty tough listen, frankly. The idea of using shortwave noise is something that Stockhausen uses alot, especially in pieces like HYMNEN, KURZWELLEN, etc... However in my personal opinion the "noise" elements may tend to sound the same after awhile. There is just not an infinite number of easily discernible noise variations to be found in shortwave radio interference (alot, but not infinite) - though I suppose it's possible that, after several repeated listenings, more subtle variations would become more apparent. The noise patterns and oscillations are also attractive because they lend themselves well to the kinds of transformations called for in the score. I assume it would also be less interesting to perform transformations on a polka fragment (and much harder if one's instrument is a tam-tam or zither).
In any case, each of the various recordings seem to have their own strong points. Eötvös and Bojé's versions have amazing sonic exploration, Milliken's has the clearest sense of compositional form, and Vetter's is possibly the most entertaining and human. For more of my thoughts on the factor of performer style to these plus-minus works, see POLE.
A Note on "Analysis"
These "process plan" pieces (using the plus-minus notation, etc...) are interestingly open to many forms of analysis which go beyond those for "normally-notated" works. The "normal" questions would be (beyond "where did the idea come from"):
1. How did the composer organize the notes, durations, dynamics, etc...? Serial? Theme variation? Chance?
2. What does the piece sound like, or how does it progress? (which would get answers like "begins dense, becoming points, polyphonic, then unison etc...")
For these process plan works, other questions arise:
3. How does the performer assign the parameters to each Event? (ie - what parameter and why this one for this Event?)
4. How does the performer interpret each parameter? (ie - in what way is this an "imitation" of the shortwave theme? What element was used and what was discarded?)
Fortunately the "what" of question 3 is included in the CD booklet to Michael Vetter's integral vocal recording on CD 46. At some point I'll probably add something here for question 2. The other questions are food for thought...
