Stockhausen* – Sternklang (Park-Music For Five Groups)

Released in a gatefold cover.

Sternklang was commissioned by the Sender Freies Berlin and was first performed between 8:30 and 11:30 PM on June 5, 1971 in the Englischer Garten near the Akademie der Künste.
The performers were:
Group I "Intermodulation" (Cambridge)
1. Peter Britton, synthesizer
2. Tim Souster, electric viola with synthesizer
3. Roger Smalley, electric organ with synthesizer

Group II
1. Gaby Rodens, soprano
2. The second voice was divided between the three others, as the intended musician dropped out.
3. Hans Alderich Billig, bass
4. Harald Boje, electronium with synthesizer

Group III
1. Helga Hamm-Albrecht, mezzo soprano
2. Siegfried Bernhoft, tenor
3. Michael Vetter, electric recorder
4. Karl Heinz Bottner, electric guitar

Group IV "The Gentle Fire" (London)
1. Graham Hearn, recorder and synthesizer
2. Stuart Jones, trumpet and synthesizer
3. Hugh Davies, self-built stringed instrument with synthesizer
4. Michael Robinson, cello with synthesizer

Group V
1. Dagmar von Biel-Apel, soprano
2. Joachim Krist, electric viola with synthesizer
3. Wolfgang Fromme, tenor
4. Peter Eötvös, electrochord with synthesizer

Percussionist: Richard Bernas (from "Gentle Fire")
Sound director: Karlheinz Stockhausen

The average distance from group to group (I, II, II, IV, V) is 70 m:
I. on an island in the pond with a bridge over the water.
II. in front of bushes and trees on the edge of a fairly large area of grass.
III. in front of trees at the edge of a large area of grass.
IV between isolated bushes and trees at the edge of a large area of grass.
V. between trees and bushes at the edge of a large area of grass.

The following introductory notes were printed in the program:
Sternklang ist [sic!] sacred music. The composition is written for groups of singers and instrumentalists, which are widely separated from each other spatially. The groups should be able to hear each other, above all, when a group has a pause. The musicians must also be able to regulate the overtones of the played and sung sounds, as these are described exactly. We therefore ask the listening participants to keep the silence that is necessary for the musicians.

Supplement 1975
Since the World Premiere in Berlin, Sternklang has been performed on the 29th and 31st of August during the Olympic Games in Munich in the Englischer Garten; again on the 8th of September at the Festival of Arts in Shiraz (Persia) in "Parc Delgosha"; on the 2nd of July in LaRochelle in "Parc Franck - Delmas"; on the 20th and 22nd of June in paris - St. Cloud in "Parc Saint Cloud". From June 24th to 26th 1975 a record was produced for Polydor International in the Studio des Dames in Paris. The musicians who participated in both performances in St. Cloud and the production in Paris were:

Group I
"Intermodulation"
Peter Britton, synthesizer
Tim Souster, viola
Robin Thompson, bassoon
Roger Smalley, synthesizer

Group II
Annette Meriweather, soprano
Wolfgang König, trombone
Hans Alderich Billig, bass
Harald Boje, electronium

Group III
Helga Hamm-Albrecht, mezzo soprano
Wolfgang Fromme, tenor
Helmut Clemens, tenor
Peter Sommer, trombone

Group IV
"Gentle Fire"
Graham Hearn, synthesizer
Stuart Jones, violin
Hugh Davies, clarinet
Michael Robinson, violoncello

Group V
Markus Stockhausen, trumpet
Suzanne Stephens, clarinet
Atsuko Iwami, alto and recorder
Michael Vetter, bass and recorder

Record Production
The production for Polydor International took place in a single studio room in Studio des Dames in Paris, from the 24th to the 26th of June 1975. The five groups were separated from one another by sound proof walls, and only the percussionist was located in a separate booth (with visual contact). The percussion sounds were transmitted into the studio at a level that was audible to the musicians.
The recording was made with a 16 channel tape recorder: each group had three channels - two for left-right orientation, and one for the spatial whole - and the percussionist had one channel.

The first recording, in 1971, as well as the second, in 1975 were subsequently mixed into a two track stereo version in a studio, in such a way, that irregular switching from group to group occurs, and at the same time, respectively, one or another group is heard simultaneously in the backgroud…departing and arriving sound runners are followed…the solos stand apart, and in the syncronous models, all groups can be heard.