Not In The Least Forbidding

Karlheinz Stockhausen has one of the more forbidding reputations among 20th century composers and doesn't get much radio play to encourage investigation of his work. One recent release that did garner some publicity and an attendant prom concert was the recording of the vocal work Stimmung by the Theatre Of Voices under the direction of Paul Hillier. Stimmung has the literal meaning of tuning but can also be used in the sense of tuning into one's soul. Stimme as the root syllable means voice. And the work is a purely vocal piece that features continual wordplay, some of it on spiritual themes with the names being intoned of various gods and dieties from numerous cultures. Other words chanted are days of the week in various languages. The whole offers a beguiling and intoxicating mix, hypnotic and stimulating all at the same time and not in the least a "difficult" listen. Or at least, only as difficult or challenging as the listener wishes to make it, the layers are multuple. Stockhausen doesn't seem to get lumped in with the minimalist school of composers but this piece does have that kind of repetitive feel and there are also obvious similarities to Berio's Sinfonia. The performance is committed and expert.