Vote up on Reddit: / snapshotsfoundation Steven Schick plays 'Zyklus' (Cycle for a percussionist) by Karlheinz Stockhausen at UCSD. / snapshotsmusic www.snapshotsfoundation.com
This is a VERY accurate reading of this piece which I have known for many years and played on occasion several times. What makes it especially interesting is that Steve Schick has given as much thought to the visual impact of performance as he has to hitting the right notes. This is helped greatly by his playing from memory - an amazing feat in itself. Throughout the piece the performer slowly moves in a circle so that his main focus of instruments (and therefore the prevailing tone) changes. I understand that it might be difficult for those unfamiliar with this piece (or this type of piece) to realise that every note played is written - he's not just making it up! (except for bending the pitch of a vibe note). The amount of freedom given to the performer about the order in which material should be played varies greatly and, in this performance, it is particularly in the more 'free choice' areas where his selection and combination of sounds, and the pace and resulting visual effect make this a fascinating interpretation. Having said that, it does sound like he Steve Schick has based his performance on a legendary one by Sylvio Gualda in the late 60s.
This is very so interesting to watch and listen at the same time because it makes me imagine a man who's trying to cook 5 dishes all at once in a small kitchen and can't stop making the noises with all these the utensils.
Stockhausen wrote this as random rhythmic, it can be played either forward or backwards, starting in different points that the musician is free to choose, and it should be ended in the same point that it started. Most of it is improvised and actually the performer shouldn't have pre-established ideas before it is played. Once this is understood you can start listening to the piece as an artistic concept, rather than random notes from a guy on drugs.
This is true, and REALLY interesting (I wouldn't have known this without your post, Julián). For a really nice analysis, go to Google and search for 'stockhausen sounds in space zyklus' without the quotation marks to read an interesting essay by Ed Chang. You know you're on the right page if you find yourself in stockenhausenspace [dot] blogspot [dot] com.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 9th Symphony when he was extremely deaf. He only wrote because he could hear in his mind. Igor Stravinsky said that he composed "Le Sacre du Printemps" by writing what he heard in his mind: "I heard, and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which 'Le Sacre' passed". Thus, it is really possible to "hear" a score. But is not for everyone!
I am not a Stockhausen fan but this is fantastic. I like the way he does not actually 'beat' his percussion instruments but flies over them like a butterfly. It all looks so easy, it almost 'swings'
so nice to see pure creative genius freestyling ... now i'm off to make some new sounds as well on my drums ... thank you ... great array of instruments
If you mean that relatively few people can read a score and "hear" from reading it how it would sound - even great composers tend to be surprised on hearing their own work for the first time. They usually know that it's coherent and that it makes sense, but Schoenberg didn't know what his String Quartet No 3 would sound like to anything like the same degree that Mozart knew what The Magic Flute would sound like. (It doesn't devalue Schoenberg.) Schubert never got to hear most of his symphonies.
What is this? I don't mean that in a negative or positive way. What I'm asking is, what is the message within this song? "Not all songs need a message" you might say. Okay. Then what is the purpose? Is it an auditory display of sounds available to the percussion family? Is there a purpose behind it - a significance behind the rotation of instruments? Or am I just supposed to listen and take it all in as I hear it? If that's the case, what am I supposed to make of the sounds I hear? They are intense, and in no way boring, but what can I make out of the various tones? Maybe this isn't meant for the listener to appreciate, but rather the performer, and the listener is supposed to interpret the emotion behind the performer, rather than the music... I think I prefer standard notation music, as ideas are expressed not only in the performers, but also through decided harmonies and dissonances. Is it more constricting? Definitely, but with structure comes understanding. If somebody were to tell me a story in a completely made-up language, but with extreme passion and emotion, I might understand the feelings, but I can't truly understand the situation without comprehension of the words behind it.
Music doesn’t necessarily paint a picture. A Mozart symphony paints a picture what? This actually does paint a picture. If you see the score and a Kandinsky painting you would realise.
guess i still dont understand apstract art.... well, im not not going to hate, everyone has his own thing .. thumbs up for effort in my case -.- this is in no way easy to perform
Wonderful performance. Only a couple minor things...I believe the toms are tuned too high, and the bells should be suspended, not a tambourine. There was also a vibes bend in there? Not I sure ever heard that before... but anyways, the best video of ZYKLUS on youtube.
Highly skilled, perfect in an art installation or soundtrack; like Einaudi et al, it's just a bit, selfish, indulgent possibly. A little input or interaction from another sound (strings or woodwind) would enhance it so very much higher. Appreciate this would compromise freedom of expression, but what a thing it could be.. agree with many of the comments, it is lovely.; it just appears joyless, to me..
It's always the same - too many people expect music to be simple (and simple-minded) entertainment. 4/4 and tonal IS music in their minds. Language develops - these people don't write their criticisms in the language of Austen or Dickens, do they? Yet that's where they seem to think music should stay. I think it's because music up until relatively recently could only be experienced in real time. You can study a book or painting as long as you like, but relatively few people can "hear" a score.
Reminds me of Paul Klee, whom I love. When I close my eyes it works much better, having a blank screen to unfold on; although, true, there seems to be no narrative to unfold, no progression. I'm forced to just be here now, so to speak.
People use the word "random" far too often, and incorrectly. There is nothing random about it. You probably mean "unpredictable." Like the weather. It can never be predicted 100% but is not random.
How can you presume to know what the composer intended so specifically? If he is expressing irritation and contempt, then what is irritating him, and to what is he showing contempt? Can you point to a specific phrase, rhythmic figure, timbre or gesture that serves as evidence to prove your point? I think the piece AND performance are amazing. It is your opinion, however, which expresses irritation and contempt. Not sure if your analysis is academic, but it reveals how art can be a mirror.....
There will always be a 'problem' for some, as though they are nobly questing for the ultimate set of variables to fall into line before their very eyes, while the rest of us troglodytes stare slack-jawed at percussionists who 'express nothing except irritation and contempt'. A hilariously subjective and naieve point-of-view.
I guarantee that Stockhausen couldn't care less about your plants. As for your brain, try listening without your ego in the way and I think you'll find this music to be incredibly stimulating.
I don't understand this. What is this, freeform jazz? All I kept thinking about during the whole video was old Tom and Jerry cartoons. What am I supposed to be looking for in a piece like this to make me truly appreciate it?
Stockhausen integrated some elements of indeterminacy in this work. The score is printed on a spiral bound booklet. It is intended that the performer choose any page to start from and cycle through the pages until they reach the starting point (thus the title zyklus, or cycles). The score is also designed so that it can be read upside down (creating a retrograde of the whole piece). While there are specific instructions on how it should be performed, the performer has quite a bit of freedom in interpreting the score. The piece is essentially an experiment in the balance between control and chance.
Well, nobody can '"hear" a score' - you can only hear a realisation of the score, either in live performance or via a recording. The score is just the instructions to the performer\s. Somebody still has to play it. Richard Strauss disliked the way that orchestras had become more disciplined and tight in the early 20th century, because he liked to write for the blurrier and less rhythmically coherent orchestras that he knew from his youth.
I hope this guy listens to other music than his own. Thats why i try to listen to as music music as possible. Any Playboi Carti, Aphex Twin, Grahm Parsons, Daft Punk, Replacements, Franz Ferdinand and Snoop Dogg fans here? (: Leave a response i probably listen to what u listen 2 (:
I can't know what the composer wanted to express, but I can know what he did in fact express, whether or not he was aware of what he managed to do. This piece is extremely irritating because it's very disjunct, incoherent, excessively dissonant and wildly imbalanced. I'm not projecting my own negativity onto this piece. This piece is a negative creation, a work of anti-music.
You can only know "in fact" your own reaction, not the composer's intention or what he wanted to express. You cannot claim to be more aware of what he is doing than he is. Your list of irritations are subjective; others may not find such qualities irritating. Dissonance is a tonal or rhythmic description relative to a given system which you did not specify (a tritone is "dissonant" in a motet, but not jazz).
this man is great with sticks but the piece doesnt have the values like continuity or composition or at least for me it doesnt. it just makes me really aggressive for some reason and drives me mad.
I was thinking more of the listener. To someone who doesn't read music a score is just a meaningless collection of symbols, which a performer has to realise before it becomes music. It's not like, say, a script for a play, which can be read by anyone (assuming literacy and knowledge of the language, of course!). Reliance on the performer means that many - if not most - people have a relationship to music on a par with that of pre-literate societies to the written word.
While I have experienced a few dissonant bouts of "anti music" from the likes of Steve vai and Jimi Hendrix, this is the single worst, most random, brain killing piece of shit ever recorded.
guess i still dont understand apstract art.... well, im not not going to hate, everyone has his own thing .. thumbs up for effort in my case -.- this is in no way easy to perform
This is a VERY accurate reading of this piece which I have known for many years and played on occasion several times. What makes it especially interesting is that Steve Schick has given as much thought to the visual impact of performance as he has to hitting the right notes. This is helped greatly by his playing from memory - an amazing feat in itself. Throughout the piece the performer slowly moves in a circle so that his main focus of instruments (and therefore the prevailing tone) changes. I understand that it might be difficult for those unfamiliar with this piece (or this type of piece) to realise that every note played is written - he's not just making it up! (except for bending the pitch of a vibe note). The amount of freedom given to the performer about the order in which material should be played varies greatly and, in this performance, it is particularly in the more 'free choice' areas where his selection and combination of sounds, and the pace and resulting visual effect make this a fascinating interpretation. Having said that, it does sound like he Steve Schick has based his performance on a legendary one by Sylvio Gualda in the late 60s.
Did you edit your comment for "feat"
Great comment thank you.
This is very so interesting to watch and listen at the same time because it makes me imagine a man who's trying to cook 5 dishes all at once in a small kitchen and can't stop making the noises with all these the utensils.
cutting vegetables, scrambling the eggs, flipping over the meat patty and etc.
Stockhausen wrote this as random rhythmic, it can be played either forward or backwards, starting in different points that the musician is free to choose, and it should be ended in the same point that it started. Most of it is improvised and actually the performer shouldn't have pre-established ideas before it is played. Once this is understood you can start listening to the piece as an artistic concept, rather than random notes from a guy on drugs.
This is true, and REALLY interesting (I wouldn't have known this without your post, Julián). For a really nice analysis, go to Google and search for 'stockhausen sounds in space zyklus' without the quotation marks to read an interesting essay by Ed Chang. You know you're on the right page if you find yourself in stockenhausenspace [dot] blogspot [dot] com.
An artistic concept and random notes from a guy on drugs is roughly synonymous
Amazing virtuoso performance and display of the breadth and reach of percussion. Un gros merci.
Exemplary performance, beautifully choreographed; amazing that he can be so lucid at such a fast tempo.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 9th Symphony when he was extremely deaf. He only wrote because he could hear in his mind. Igor Stravinsky said that he composed "Le Sacre du Printemps" by writing what he heard in his mind: "I heard, and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which 'Le Sacre' passed". Thus, it is really possible to "hear" a score. But is not for everyone!
Absolutely magnificent. Bravo.
Excellent performance and quality! Thanks for sharing!
one of the first percussion-artist in the ART context!!!!
I am not a Stockhausen fan but this is fantastic. I like the way he does not actually 'beat' his percussion instruments but flies over them like a butterfly. It all looks so easy, it almost 'swings'
Highly academic and intellectual. Incredible piece and performance.
My god, this might be my new favorite solo percussion piece, even above Psappha.
Listening guide to ZYKLUS: stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2014/09/opus-9-zyklus.html
so nice to see pure creative genius freestyling ... now i'm off to make some new sounds as well on my drums ... thank you ... great array of instruments
If you mean that relatively few people can read a score and "hear" from reading it how it would sound - even great composers tend to be surprised on hearing their own work for the first time. They usually know that it's coherent and that it makes sense, but Schoenberg didn't know what his String Quartet No 3 would sound like to anything like the same degree that Mozart knew what The Magic Flute would sound like. (It doesn't devalue Schoenberg.) Schubert never got to hear most of his symphonies.
wow... this is unbelievable!!! beautiful performance.
Really enjoyed this.
Thanks.
extraordinary performance...great...
Thank you
What is this? I don't mean that in a negative or positive way. What I'm asking is, what is the message within this song? "Not all songs need a message" you might say. Okay. Then what is the purpose? Is it an auditory display of sounds available to the percussion family? Is there a purpose behind it - a significance behind the rotation of instruments? Or am I just supposed to listen and take it all in as I hear it? If that's the case, what am I supposed to make of the sounds I hear? They are intense, and in no way boring, but what can I make out of the various tones? Maybe this isn't meant for the listener to appreciate, but rather the performer, and the listener is supposed to interpret the emotion behind the performer, rather than the music... I think I prefer standard notation music, as ideas are expressed not only in the performers, but also through decided harmonies and dissonances. Is it more constricting? Definitely, but with structure comes understanding. If somebody were to tell me a story in a completely made-up language, but with extreme passion and emotion, I might understand the feelings, but I can't truly understand the situation without comprehension of the words behind it.
Message of this composition is Music can also come from natural noise
Music doesn’t necessarily paint a picture. A Mozart symphony paints a picture what? This actually does paint a picture. If you see the score and a Kandinsky painting you would realise.
superb!
+aneros988 Superb crap
What a great performance!
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Fantastic
Never listened to one like this
thanks
God bless
Kasturi G
guess i still dont understand apstract art.... well, im not not going to hate, everyone has his own thing .. thumbs up for effort in my case -.- this is in no way easy to perform
it was amazing lisning it..
Amazing
0:07 : Zyklus by →Karl Stockhausan←. srsly. SRSLY!
amazing performance, though!
I dislike "abstract" music as much as the next person, but this is kind of nice. It gives me the sense of ASMR, in a way.
Wonderful performance. Only a couple minor things...I believe the toms are tuned too high, and the bells should be suspended, not a tambourine. There was also a vibes bend in there? Not I sure ever heard that before... but anyways, the best video of ZYKLUS on youtube.
Excellent performance! :-)
Todella kova esitys!
I think i'm not ready for this
Whatever it is, I'm happy to indulge in it.
it was amazing...
WOW great percussionist!
That makes me sleep as fuck
love this...keep up the great work :)
wow what a guy
Non oso immaginare uno completamente fatto, dentro un labirinto con questa musica che lo accompagna.......
I wanna hear a live version
Highly skilled, perfect in an art installation or soundtrack; like Einaudi et al, it's just a bit, selfish, indulgent possibly. A little input or interaction from another sound (strings or woodwind) would enhance it so very much higher. Appreciate this would compromise freedom of expression, but what a thing it could be.. agree with many of the comments, it is lovely.; it just appears joyless, to me..
hasn't this been done in percussion ensemble form.
wooooooow!!!!!!
It's always the same - too many people expect music to be simple (and simple-minded) entertainment. 4/4 and tonal IS music in their minds. Language develops - these people don't write their criticisms in the language of Austen or Dickens, do they? Yet that's where they seem to think music should stay.
I think it's because music up until relatively recently could only be experienced in real time. You can study a book or painting as long as you like, but relatively few people can "hear" a score.
Reminds me of Paul Klee, whom I love. When I close my eyes it works much better, having a blank screen to unfold on; although, true, there seems to be no narrative to unfold, no progression. I'm forced to just be here now, so to speak.
Awesome!!!!
How the hell does he remember all that....
Probably by reading the notation.
I don't get the comments below, this is as joyful or, to be more precise, excatic as it gets
Neat!
i can do this on my android app now :D
When you start hitting random ass shit..
Pandit vishwaMohan Bhatta in concert please with Anushka Shankar or with Ravishankar pl
I played this with a shotgun and some bells. His might be slightly better because drums.
Who said it has to contain 'joy' ?
Cool! Like a Dead concert!
moves like a cat
to each his gong
People use the word "random" far too often, and incorrectly. There is nothing random about it. You probably mean "unpredictable." Like the weather. It can never be predicted 100% but is not random.
How can you presume to know what the composer intended so specifically? If he is expressing irritation and contempt, then what is irritating him, and to what is he showing contempt? Can you point to a specific phrase, rhythmic figure, timbre or gesture that serves as evidence to prove your point? I think the piece AND performance are amazing. It is your opinion, however, which expresses irritation and contempt. Not sure if your analysis is academic, but it reveals how art can be a mirror.....
It sounds like Tom and Jerry!
@pisemana Percussion troll is trolling
There will always be a 'problem' for some, as though they are nobly questing for the ultimate set of variables to fall into line before their very eyes, while the rest of us troglodytes stare slack-jawed at percussionists who 'express nothing except irritation and contempt'. A hilariously subjective and naieve point-of-view.
I guarantee that Stockhausen couldn't care less about your plants. As for your brain, try listening without your ego in the way and I think you'll find this music to be incredibly stimulating.
@kimokaker, that's the problem with this piece: it's all academic and expresses nothing except irritation and contempt.
I don't understand this. What is this, freeform jazz? All I kept thinking about during the whole video was old Tom and Jerry cartoons. What am I supposed to be looking for in a piece like this to make me truly appreciate it?
"That was great!" is a response
"That was terrible!" is a response.
Go with what you just said "I'm confused!" That was the point.
Stockhausen integrated some elements of indeterminacy in this work. The score is printed on a spiral bound booklet. It is intended that the performer choose any page to start from and cycle through the pages until they reach the starting point (thus the title zyklus, or cycles). The score is also designed so that it can be read upside down (creating a retrograde of the whole piece). While there are specific instructions on how it should be performed, the performer has quite a bit of freedom in interpreting the score. The piece is essentially an experiment in the balance between control and chance.
You gotta be kidding me
I am sure if i ask you to repeat the same you can not.
Well, nobody can '"hear" a score' - you can only hear a realisation of the score, either in live performance or via a recording. The score is just the instructions to the performer\s. Somebody still has to play it. Richard Strauss disliked the way that orchestras had become more disciplined and tight in the early 20th century, because he liked to write for the blurrier and less rhythmically coherent orchestras that he knew from his youth.
I hope this guy listens to other music than his own. Thats why i try to listen to as music music as possible. Any Playboi Carti, Aphex Twin, Grahm Parsons, Daft Punk, Replacements, Franz Ferdinand and Snoop Dogg fans here? (: Leave a response i probably listen to what u listen 2 (:
His mind must be all messed up ;P
Do people who make this music know anything about music?
I can't know what the composer wanted to express, but I can know what he did in fact express, whether or not he was aware of what he managed to do. This piece is extremely irritating because it's very disjunct, incoherent, excessively dissonant and wildly imbalanced. I'm not projecting my own negativity onto this piece. This piece is a negative creation, a work of anti-music.
Sry Sounds bit random for me :D
Taylor Swift brought me here.
не очень связная композиция как будто на шару играет!
You can only know "in fact" your own reaction, not the composer's intention or what he wanted to express. You cannot claim to be more aware of what he is doing than he is. Your list of irritations are subjective; others may not find such qualities irritating. Dissonance is a tonal or rhythmic description relative to a given system which you did not specify (a tritone is "dissonant" in a motet, but not jazz).
O nome da música devia ser "Shit".
jajaja, en realidad el tipo ha economizado todo lo que pudo, debian tocarlo 6 o 7 musicos y el lo toco solo!!!! por eso no se entiende nada!!
bullshit is he playing or testing it?
this man is great with sticks but the piece doesnt have the values like continuity or composition or at least for me it doesnt. it just makes me really aggressive for some reason and drives me mad.
I was thinking more of the listener. To someone who doesn't read music a score is just a meaningless collection of symbols, which a performer has to realise before it becomes music. It's not like, say, a script for a play, which can be read by anyone (assuming literacy and knowledge of the language, of course!). Reliance on the performer means that many - if not most - people have a relationship to music on a par with that of pre-literate societies to the written word.
I don't play percussion and I can make all this noise:)
really good skills, but come on, can people just play something pleasant for ears
I just played this on my midi keyboard by assigning it to percussion and randomly hitting keys. XD
wtf was this????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Idk but I had 2 watch it for band class and ik that I’m 8 years late
While I have experienced a few dissonant bouts of "anti music" from the likes of Steve vai and Jimi Hendrix, this is the single worst, most random, brain killing piece of shit ever recorded.
Amazing
it was amazing...
guess i still dont understand apstract art.... well, im not not going to hate, everyone has his own thing .. thumbs up for effort in my case -.- this is in no way easy to perform
amazing