Other Planets - by Robin Maconie (Paperback)

About the Book

Other Planets draws on over fifty years of the author's close study of Stockhausen and functions as a catalogue raisonee of Stockhausen's complete output. The updated edition extends the range of the volume's contents to include the 25 works Stockhausen composed between 2004 and his death in 2007.

Book Synopsis

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen was arguably the most influential figure of the European postwar avant-garde and unquestionably the most elusive and enigmatic musical thinker of a generation that includes Pierre Boulez, John Cage, and Luciano Berio. His radically new electronic and instrumental music converted Igor Stravinsky to serialism in the 1950s and has continued to inspire young composers for more than fifty years.

Other Planets: The Complete Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen, 1950-2007 draws on more than fifty years of Maconie's close study of Stockhausen and functions as a catalogue raisonee of Stockhausen's complete output. With plentiful citations from the history of radio, film, and sound recording, as well as from contemporary science and technology, the book is laid out in chronological order and contains ample commentary on the composer's sources of inspiration. Each composition is also fully documented within the text, giving full information of each work's publisher, catalog number, instrumentation, duration, and authorized compact disc. The updated edition extends the range of the volume's contents to include the twenty-five works Stockhausen composed between 2004 and his death in 2007.

Stockhausen's status in the history of music in the late twentieth century can now be appreciated with unprecedented clarity. All listeners will benefit from this work, and American music lovers in particular will find it an invaluable guide to the ongoing debate and rivalry over the sources of abstract expressionism and the avant-garde.

Review Quotes

"Other Planets is an entertaining and detailed resource.... [T]he imaginative, conglomerate approach taken by Maconie invites further elaboration and discussion. In the context of a resurgence in performances of Stockhausen's music and an intensification of interest around the world, this resource...will help shape the interpretation and reception of future practitioners and audiences." --Tempo

"In the past, one could argue that books written by devoted disciples (such as Maconie) would find their strongest audience primarily in other true believers. The present volume, however, can be read with pleasure for its insightful comments on a host of topics--philosophy, poetry, German responses to Nazism, and the music of Boulez, Berio, Cage, Reich, Riley, et al. Stockhausen himself is omnipresent, of course, and the text is peppered with quotations from the composer's writings. As always, these can be brilliant, perceptive, arrogant, silly, mystical, infuriating, or incomprehensible. But the context of such comments can now be seen in sharper focus. A fascinating book containing many gems. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." --Choice Reviews

"[W]ell done...Stockhausen has been such an extraordinary figure within the musical world of the last 50 years--variously a musical scientist, a psychic astronaut, and a neo-Wagnerian megalomaniac--that we need to know much, much more." --Musical Times

"New Zealand composer and musicologist Robin Maconie has written a meticulously researched biography of the man many believe to be the world's greatest living composer, German electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Maconie is regarded as the world authority on Stockhausen, and his book Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen is the result of 40 years of studying his work." --The New Zealand Edge

"A composer of avant-garde electronic and instrumental music, Karlheinz Stockhausen is one of the most elusive and enigmatic musical thinkers of his generation. Organized chronologically, this volume catalogs Stockhausen's complete output and identifies the sources of his inspiration. Each composition is fully documented with information on publisher, catalog number, instrumentation, duration, and authorized compact disc recording." --Reference and Research Book News

"Maconie often does say shrewd and penetrating things. He has a nice way with metaphor.... There are many good things in this book." --BBC Music Magazine

"Maconie's exploration of all things Stockhausen is a winner.... [T]his new book offers greater nuance and--delightfully--earnest criticism.... Maconie has done amazing work." --La Folia: Online Musical Review

"Books about Stockhausen have not been scarce, but an up-to-date and not overly technical study of his music was certainly needed: this one fits the bill admirably.... [A]n ideal overview." --Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

"[G]reat fun to read, and full of provocative nuggets of information...a useful guide." --Times Literary Supplement

"A piece-by-piece guide to the composers music, and an absolutely essential reference." --Artsaha!

"His commentary was remarkably attuned not only to the physical presence of the canvas, but also to its otherworldly harmonies.... Maconie- as writer as well as speaker- is an immensely practical, at times demanding, yet persuasive guide to both the world around us and the 'other planets' contained therein." --New Zealand Books

"The sheer amount of information is of immense value.... The book provides an invaluable foundation for further research on Stockhausen." --Oxford Journal

"[A] lucid study..." --The New Zealand Herald

About the Author

Robin Maconie is a New Zealand-born composer and musicologist who has studied with Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen.