Stockhausen: Mantra (1970)

Joseph Houston & Alex Wilson piano
Tom Mudd sound

1970 saw the first performance of Stockhausen’s duo for two pianos, antique cymbals, woodblock, ring modulators and short wave radio. This seminal work of the 20th century saw Stockhausen return to notated music after a period utilising graphic/verbal direction, with the ’Mantra’ in question being a musical formula from which every element of the music is derived. Totalling an epic 70-plus minutes of unbroken music, Mantra takes the listener on a journey of mathematical, melodic and thematic expansion – germinating from a single musical idea. You can try analysing the formula or just be swept away by this epic work – either way you will ’no longer be the same’.