California EAR Unit: Works of Stockhausen and others

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Phil Ramone and Danielle Evin wrote in the Huffington Post: "Karlheinz Stockhausen was one of the most important composers of the 20th century, and one of the very first to cultivate the electronic music medium; born in 1928 in Mödrath, Germany, a small town near Cologne. … By the age of 8, Karlheinz showed signs of musical brilliance. Tragically, in 1941, his mother was euthanized by the Nazis, and his father later killed serving in Hitler's war; in his late teens, Stockhausen himself was a stretcher-bearer for the Germans, witnessing horrific atrocities. After the war, he hoped to become a music teacher, studying with Frank Martin in Cologne, at the Musikhochschule. In 1952, inspired by the music of Olivier Messiaen, he went to Paris, where his creativity and genius exploded. In just a few years, Stockhausen became one of Europe's leading, and controversial, avant-garde composers. His music is emotional mathematics, cerebral and sophisticated. 'Dr. K-Sextet,' performed by The California Ear Unit and released in 1994, is a gentle introduction to the very complex and brilliant Stockhausen."