Hymnen – elektronische und konkrete Musik

The prologue to musikfest berlin 09. At the beginning of his Hymnen we hear Stockhausen’s voice: »Faites vôtre jeu«. »Make your play« – this will be a global play. As musical material for his electronic composition, Stockhausen chose forty national anthems. Assigning them to four “regions“, which he called the stages of his work, he quoted, altered, combined and transformed them, interspersing them with vocal pieces, folk tunes, radio noise and declamations. Here, that which gestures of power separates and sets against one another comes together. In Hymnen a future vision of a humane, dignified and actively respectful cohabitation becomes a concrete (outer) space music.

<small>* voice of the croupier from Stockhausen’s Hymnen</small>