The International Clarinet Association’s annual ClarinetFest was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this year, and I was invited to perform Stockhausen’s “Solo für melodieinstrument und Rückkopplung”. The piece was written in 1966 for any melody instrument and delayed feedback. To perform it then required the assistance of at least four people to operate the different elements of the delay system, which include the recording, the playback, and the speakers. Using the software Max/MSP with my laptop, I’ve developed a patch so it can now be performed with a computer doing all these tasks. Harry Sparnaay, the pioneer of the modern bass clarinet, has even mentioned my performance in his book.

For the performance of Solo, Stockhausen has supplied 6 different Formschemas (schematics), and 6 different Notenseiten (note pages). The performer chooses which Formschema, which is divided into 6 Zyklen (cycles), will become the basis for their interpretation of the piece. Each Zyklus is fixed at a very precise length of time, and is further divided into smaller Perioden of equal length. For example, in this Formschema III, Zyklus A is divided into 7 Perioden of 30,4 seconds, Zyklus B into 10 Perioden of 9 seconds, Zyklus C into 8 x 20,25 seconds, Zyklus D into 9 x 13,5 seconds, Zyklus into E 11 x 6 seconds, and Zyklus F into 6 x 45,6 seconds. The choice is then left to the performer to choose which Notenseite is associated with which Zyklus, and Stockhausen has provided a number of guidelines as to how to interpret them. The systems of notes are not intended to be played in the order which they appear on the page, but as defined by the rules of the particular Zyklus to which they have been attributed. Stockhausen uses 3 different symbols to indicate what musical material should be used in each Zyklus- either a full Systeme, smaller Teile (part), or individual Elemente, or sometimes a combination of two. It is also indicated whether the musical material should come only from the Notenseite associated with the Zyklus, or also including material from the Zyklus before and/or after. Further instructions include regards to whether each Periode should contain Systeme, Teile, and Elemente which are similar, different, or contrary to each other. Considerations also need to be taken in regards to the feedback delay. In some Periode, Stockausen has prescribed Chords, Blocks, and Polyphony to occur created from the layers of Feedback which will be present. It is then the up to the performer to take all this information and construct a part from which to play.

The four assistants originally needed for the performance of the piece included one for the microphone recording, one for the feedback channels, and one for the speakers. The Formschema specifies in which Perioden which device needs to be turned on or off, and on which channel (left or right.) In addition, the Formschema sometimes specifies a certain number of interruptions that should occur in the Recording and Feedback channels of each Period, performed by the assistants with volume faders to cause quick drop-outs in what is being heard in the feedback. Stockhausen originally designed this piece, in 1966, for use with a tape recorder, with recording and playback heads spaced at exact distances and tape of an exact length and running at an exact speed so as to synchronize with the exact time lengths of each Period. The fourth assistant was needed to operate these and give cues as to when it was changing from one to the other. I will be performing using a patch I developed with the software Max/MSP. With this patch, all these elements have been automated with the computer, as well as adding effects to create the four different tone timbres Stockhausen asks for.

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And there was a nice review written up on the ClarinetFest blog.