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KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN: KONTAKTE

(ECSTATIC PEACE!)

"Kontakte" is a touchstone, if not the archetype, for modern experimental music. Written for electronic tape, either alone or in combination with live piano and percussion, it was one of the first works to combine pre-recordings and live instruments. Stockhausen's goal was to express the continuous spectrum of sound between noise and tone, as well as utilize a "moment" form of composition in which there would be no emphasis on progression.

The debut performance in 1960 by David Tudor, stalwart pianist of the avant-garde, and percussionist Christoph Caskel can be heard on a classic Wergo recording; in it the suspensions between "moments" are breathless -- neither the audience nor the performers seem prepared for what might come next. In this excellent 1978 performance by pianist James Tenney and percussionist William Winant, released here for the first time on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label, the surprise is gone: the piece, and its devices, had already become an avant-garde standard. But surprise is replaced by a noisy, crashing fluidity that evokes its own knowing lyricism. It's homage and assault at the same time, performed by musicians with ears tuned to jazz and minimalism as well as the sound of Darmstadt 1960.

-- Damon Krukowski