Analysis 1: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge [1956] A tape piece written by Stockhausen in 1956, Gesang der Jünglinge is an electroacoustic piece that combines sung speech with electronic sounds. It was written for five groups of loudspeakers, meant to be distributed in a space around the listeners. It debuted at Cologne's West German Radio in its largest auditorium on May 30th, 1956. Stockhausen uses sung speech sounds because he states “Sung speech-­‐
sounds are, in certain structural respects much more differentiated than any sounds composed electronically” – Stockhausen. However, he does state that sung speech can only be combined with electronic sounds if it is objectivised by an artificial procedure, thus fused into the nature of the electronic sound world. This determines the way in which Stockhausen arranges the speech and electronic sounds within the work. “(O all ye works of the Lord— praise (exalt) ye the Lord above all forever. O ye angels of the Lord, praise ye the Lord— O ye heavens, praise ye the Lord. O all ye waters that are above heaven, praise ye the Lord— O all ye hosts of the Lord, praise ye the Lord. O ye sun and moon, praise ye the Lord— O ye stars of heaven, praise ye the Lord. O every shower and dew, praise ye the Lord— O all ye winds, praise ye the Lord. O ye fire and summer’s heat, praise ye the Lord— O ye cold and hard winter, praise ye the Lord. O ye dew and fall of rain, praise ye the Lord— O ye ice and frost, praise ye the Lord.” An excerpt of the manuscript of Gesang (left) sheds light on how Stockhausen encorporates 12 sound elements: Sine wave complexes, Pulse wave complexes, speech sounds and syllables, white noise (finely filtered), single pulses, synthetic vowel sounds, white noise (1-­‐6 octaves in range), Pulses in statistically defined density (1-­‐6 octaves), Chords of single pulses, Chords of the finely filtered white noise, Chords of sine tones, and Vocal chords. Chart score for singer (left) and English translation of lyrics (above) Analysis 2: Steve Reich -­‐ Different Trains Mvt. 1 [1988] 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 12. 0.00 0.17 0.36 1.23 2.38 3.44 4.43 5.44 6.23 7.05 7.37 9.06 8.31 String Paradiddles Train Whistle Subject One “From Chicago” Subject Two “One of the Fastest Trains” Subject Three “The Crack Train From New York” Subject Four “From New York to Las Angeles” Subject Five “Different Trains, every time” Subject One “From Chicago” Subject Six “In 1939” Subject Seven “1939” Subject Eight “1940” Subject Nine “1941” Subject Ten “1941, I guess it must have been” Steve Reich’s piece, Different Trains, similar to earlier pieces, focuses on prer-­‐ecorded speech, human voice, and field recordings in order to create a foundation for music. The Trains interviews were sampled on a digital sampling keyboard and then he would create rhythms, identify pitches and use certain quotes and excerpts from the interview to create musical gestures. In 1990, Reich received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for Different Trains as recorded by the Kronos Quartet. By combining the sound of train whistles, pistons and the scream of brakes with extracts of speech by Lawrence Davis, Virginia and three holocaust survivors (Paul, Rachel and Rachella), Reich creates music of for string quartet. Steve Reich Different Trains Mvt. 1 1988 In each part, melodies are introduced, usually by a single instrument; viola for women and cello for men. A recording of the spoken phrase from which the melody derives is played. This is mimicked on a single instrument and from there is developed. The rest of the quartet continually play a driving ‘paradiddle’ ostinato. A paradiddle is a drum stick exercise and is one of the most important drum rudiments. R L R R L R L L