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Rating: The greatest living composer.
The master of musicians now considered seminal.
The father of what we call "electronic music"...
Twenty days ago a friend tells me: "Did you know Stockhausen is coming to Bari?"
And I, incredulous: "Really, is it possible?"
All true, the opera organization is setting up in the charming Vallisa Auditorium, two concerts of the famous composer.
Friday, May 12, 9:00 PM
The room is already filling up, time to enter and take a seat and the concert begins with a precision from another era.
An elderly gentleman elegantly steps onto the stage, thanks the audience for coming, and in excellent Italian says we are about to listen to "Hymnen".
The maestro explains that the lights will be dimmed because there is nothing to "see", you just have to listen, the ideal would be to completely withdraw and let oneself be carried elsewhere by the sounds, "all", which we will soon hear.
Stockhausen comes down from the stage and settles in his position at the center of the audience, the room goes dark, a thin beam of white light draws a full moon that seems to come from a distant skylight.
Seconds of absolute silence.
A frenetic radio zapping begins, German speakers and radio interferences bounce in the sound field.
Finding myself seated in front of a column, I cannot do anything but close my eyes, the music emitted by the powerful quadraphonic system envelopes me, I travel to other shores, perhaps losing consciousness for a minute, in this first part I let myself be carried away.
Among the noises, "The Internationale" and "La Marseillaise" can be distinguished, filtered and reassembled, almost unrecognizable, from the rear speakers comes the sound of a crowd, an "environment". This goes on for 50 minutes.
The first part ends with regions 1 and 2 of "Hymnen" and I don't expect it... the cut seems sharp to me, but a pause is necessary, the audience applauds.
I change seats and settle in front of the German's mixer and with regions 3 and 4, a more lucid dream begins.
The lights of the mixing desk keep me in a state of alertness, my listening position now optimal, pushes me to analyze every single sound.
In this second part, I can clearly hear sound waves generated in a primitive way and I am amazed at how well they work, the reverberating acoustics of this former church then do the rest. The thing that strikes me most are the choirs of the Soviet anthem which after the "treatment" sound to the ears like exotic strings.
At precise intervals, the voice of a croupier can be heard announcing: "Messieurs et 'dames, rien ne va plus..."
The last drones bring back the calm in the room, and between the applause of an enthralled audience, the second part also concludes.
The hymns, "old" by 50 years, is perhaps the most famous composition by the maestro who, in the mid-sixties, recorded 137 national anthems from the radio, only to later rework them; a sort of "Welt Musik" as the German calls it, a world music to unite the world, a music loaded with a utopian sense that we should strive to keep relevant.
Just as relevant is Stockhausen's work, a performance that literally leaves me stunned.
The comments of people I know baffle me, I don't know what to reply, I get in line for an autograph and a handshake with the maestro (after all, when will I get another chance?) and then off, out into the streets of my city that no longer seems the same.
There are events that change you.
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