wowhd.co.uk

Stockhausen's Amour is a series of five pieces for clarinet based on five short poems written as gifts for women whom the composer was deeply connected to. The most complex and hypnotic of these is Die Schmetterlinge spielen (The Butterflies Playing). in this composition, Stockhausen sets to music the flight of two butterflies, each moving with two different rhythmic meters and speeds. Der kleine Harlekin (The Little Harlequin) is probably the best known of Stockhausen's theatrical works. The clarinetist faces a musically demanding score while wearing a costume and performing a range of dance movements precisely indicated in the score. Wochenkreis (Circle of the Week) is a series of songs describing an initiatory journey from birth to ascension to God, accompanied by the electronic sounds produced by the synthesizer player who has the role of the antagonist Lucifer.