document 1 sur 1

Texte intégral | Journal

Duo-pianists shout way through Stockhausen's Mantra

Kraglund, John. The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 15 Jan 1979: P.15.

Résumé
The cancellation was obviously a disappointment for NMC. Not all of its concerts draw capacity audiences. The substitute
concert, scheduled for March 16, will be a tribute to Messiaen, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday. It will include a
major work by Messiaen, as well as a new composition by Tremblay. Subscribers will automatically get tickets for the March
16 concert. Single ticket-holders may exchange their tickets for any concert in the NMC series or will be granted refunds upon
request....

Texte intégral

Duo-pianists shout way through Stockhausen's Mantra

Monday, January 15, 1979

John Kraglund

Toronto ON -- Rushing about to hear fragments of concerts can be both exhausting and frustrating, unless one can time it to
hear the works one is most eager to hear. Even then there is a suggestion the musical world is falling apart and there is no
avoiding the problems of getting around Toronto in a hurry, especially when the streets have been surfaced with several
inches of slush. So despite the best of intentions, I was unable to adjust my timetable sufficiently to catch flutist Nicholas
Fiore and harpist Judy Loman in the Centre Stage Series at Castle Frank High School.

Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky, German duo-pianists, got in the way because they were playing the music of Karlheinz
Stockhausen in the New Music Concerts series at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building. More specifically, the Kontarsky
brothers, with electronics assistance from Hans Peter Haller, were playing one work by Stockhausen, which ran too long
because of a late start. Leaving at the planned time would have meant missing the only real excitement in the evening -
when the brothers stood up to shout at one another, presumably a verbalization of the musical theme, for the piece was titled
Mantra.
Surprisingly, the name of Stockhausen did not appear to fit into the shouting, which might have been in an obscure Bavarian
dialect or Japanese. Funk and Wagnalls' definition seems closer to the modern understanding of the word Mantra than the
one used in the program notes. Mantra: a formula or charm used in Hindu invocations, usually consisting of the name of
some deity or a short address to him.

So Stockhausen's thematic material was his mantra formula, constantly repeated, but expanded or contracted vertically and
horizontally, with considerable help from taped shortwave sounds (the static type), ring modulators, woodblocks and antique
cymbals. The last two were on boards mounted on the pianos and were frequently beaten enthusiastically by the pianists.

The Kontarskys are virtuoso pianists who spend much of their time performing contemporary music. They premiered Mantra
shortly after it was composed, in Japan, in 1970. So the performance was probably as close as possible to what Stockhausen
wanted. To me it seemed a great improvement over the disorientation of the unending chance music he had been favoring,
and closer to the early music which won him his initial acclaim. Because of the constant changing of almost everything but
the basic material, the music was immensely varied, although it did tend to lull one's senses, particularly in the first half. That
was where the woodblocks and cymbals were an asset.

The piece as a whole would have been even more fascinating if it had not taken so long to get to the second half, in which the
pianists had a chance to demonstrate the subtle aspects of their art and the musicianship that has made them among the
most rewarding of duo-pianists, in a wide range of repertoire. Still, Mantra did not make me feel it was a major tragedy that
the Jan. 21 Stockhausen concert had to be cancelled because the composer will be involved in a new TV ballet for North
German Radio.

The cancellation was obviously a disappointment for NMC. Not all of its concerts draw capacity audiences. The substitute
concert, scheduled for March 16, will be a tribute to Messiaen, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday. It will include a
major work by Messiaen, as well as a new composition by Tremblay. Subscribers will automatically get tickets for the March
16 concert. Single ticket-holders may exchange their tickets for any concert in the NMC series or will be granted refunds upon
request. When time and weather disrupted plans to attend Saturday's Centre Stage concert, the obvious solution was a stop
at the Music Gallery, where time had become meaningless. It was here that Montreal pianist Rober Racine was giving the first
Toronto solo performance of Erik Satie's Vexations. When I arrived at the scene he had been at the keyboard for 10 hours
and still had an estimated four or five hours to go.

Vexations was the second of a group of three piano pieces composed by Satie between 1893 and 1895, during his Rosicrucian
period. It consists of an exquisite melodic line (presumably based on a Rosicrucian chant, but differing little in its purity and
cool expression from Gregorian chant). This, in the left hand, is followed by another line in which the same material is joined
with two-part harmonization in the right hand. The original is repeated, followed by a different harmonization. To emulate
Racine's feat, one has only to play this brief fragment - 840 times! Why would anyone engage in this sort of undertaking?
Presumably because this was suggested by Satie or as a personal challenge. Even then, it might be like climbing a mountain
- because it is there. There was no way to ask the pianist, for he was playing the series without break for refreshments or
any of the natural activities the rest of us find necessary and take for granted. His only deviation was the to shift one of the
840 pins (to keep count) at the end of each cycle. But reports indicate he is getting no musical joy from the experience.

If there had ever been any joy, it apparently vanished by the end of his first marathon performance. It seems likely the
performance has a sort of hypnotic effect on Racine. Perhaps the idea of the performance has the same effect, but he is
probably building a strong resistance to this. In this case the venture must have seemed particularly joyless, for even the
devotees of repetitious music seemed conspicuously absent.

For my part, the music seemed ideal for brief, concentrated listening and for a long period of background to other activity.
Any other approach would soon make the title seem all too appropriate. Certainly, I do not regret having missed a York
University performance - a sort of relay marathon by six students. They accomplished the feat in 11 hours, but it seems they
were repeating only the harmonized lines. If fatigue does not prompt Racine to speed up the slow tempo, as he approaches
the end, he -J.K.

All material copyright Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved.

Détails
Titre Duo-pianists shout way through Stockhausen's Mantra
Auteur Kraglund, John
Publication The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont.
Pages P.15
Année de publication 1979
Date de publication Jan 15, 1979
Données de parution Toronto ON
Éditeur The Globe and Mail
Lieu de publication Toronto, Ont.
Pays de publication Canada, Toronto, Ont.
Sujet de la publication General Interest Periodicals--Canada
ISSN 03190714
Type de source Journal
Langue de publication English
Type de document NEWSPAPER
ID de document ProQuest 387152729
URL du document https://www-proquest-com.res.banq.qc.ca/newspapers/duo-pianists-shout-way-
through-stockhausens/docview/387152729/se-2?accountid=8612
Copyright All material copyright Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved.
Dernière mise à jour 2017-11-09
Base de données Canadian Major Dailies

Copyright de la base de données © 2022 ProQuest LLC. Tous droits réservés. Conditions générales