Excellence in cluster management

Excellent double disc set from Stockhausen’S Klavierstückeperformed here by the Tokyo-born pianist and composer Miharu Ogura on Ogura plays Stockhausen (THANATOSIS PRODUCTION THT22).

In addition to the great playing, the clear and lively recordings (made in Kylingen in Stockholm at the Monopiano festival) and the very elegant packaging and presentation, the package includes a booklet with notes from Robin Maconiethe composer and writer who has consistently written and published about Stockhausen’s work since 1972, up to and including the 2016 tome Other Planets: The Complete Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen 1950-2007. Frankly, I would be lost without his useful note book, which succinctly describes the history and importance of these piano miniatures, the composer’s intentions and their effects on audiences in the 1950s (hint: they caused a stir even in Darmstadt ), and contains moving snapshots from the composer’s own life. For example, I never knew that this most cerebral and sometimes austere of modernists developed a taste for big band jazz during the Second World War and listened to it ‘secretly’ on the radio in the middle of the night, nor that he even played jazz when he was on toured with Adrion, using his piano licks to “keep the crowd in a good mood.”

Then turn to Maconie’s prose for pinpoint insights; I highlight the two aspects of the music that Miharu Ogura flawlessly performs and articulates. The first is the jewel-like quality of the music: Maconie speaks of ‘elaborately carved baroque jewels’, a characteristic that is demonstrably embedded in every note of the music. Klavierstückeand it is this harsh, crystalline beauty that Ogura brings out with her clear, authoritative coups. You could say that she engraves the music almost in the air, engraving each note into place like an old-fashioned letterpress. The second achievement – ​​well, I’m already forgetting. I think it might have had something to do with listening; I’ve always found it Klavierstücke quite heavy on the old lugs, and rarely play my copy of the 1985-86 recordings on WER 60135/36 (but they were played by Herbert Henck, and perhaps the version by Aloys Kontarsky, noted member of the Stockhausen Mafia, is the one I need). It could be that Miharu Ogura has succeeded in making this challenging music more listenable and digestible; she may have found the key to turning the fragmented, disjointed syntax into sentences, prose statements, entire books. Perhaps she has absorbed one of the maestro’s sayings about “unintentional listening,” as if we happen to encounter the music in an unexpected place instead of sitting in the concert hall, ears in a tuxedo, fully expecting an evening full of high culture. Again, the above is partly taken from Maconie’s notes.

For further insights, purchase a copy of this item, absorb the notes, but above all, prepare yourself for an attack of austere genius, performed by this modern player who has been interpreting and playing Stockhausen’s music since she was 19. From March 2, 2023; Unfortunately, this appears to be sold out at the source.