ATP 019-20
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Klavierstücke I-XI Bernhard Wambach-Havemann

My first encounter with Stockhausen’s music was through a record I heard during the sixties. The pieces that so completely enmeshed me were entitled “Refrain” and “Kontakte”. This was music the likes of which I had never heard before. Shortly after this, a record was released with the piece “Klavierstück X” (piece for piano), played by Frederic Rzewski in a way that was unrivaled. Once I had heard this piece as well, I wanted to play the “Klavierstück X”. In the seventies, when I felt that I was ready, thanks to having studied Schönberg’s works, I began to work on “Klavierstücke” by Stockhausen. First I studied the IX, then the X and XI – and also “Kontakte” for electronic sound, piano and drums. But I was already so eager to play all the works by this composer, works that use my instrument in solo pieces or in an ensemble. So in the early eighties, I added “Klavierstücke I – VIII” to my repertoire. I began to study and explore them more deeply by collaborating with Stockhausen in a number of rehearsals and concerts. Shortly after this, I began to study the pieces in the opera cycle “Licht (Light)” (XII, XIII, XIV). The concerts I was giving at the time were often dominated by the music of Stockhausen.