Stockhausen, Karlheinz. (1928–2007). Refrain and Klavierstücke I-IV - Two Scores. London: Universal Edition. 1961. First Edition.
Score to the important twentieth-century composer's 1959 chamber work for piano, vibraphone and celeste. 4to. U.E. 13187. Printed on a single folded card sheet, the score is written partly on curved staves, to allow a transparent plastic strip printed with further performance directions to be superimposed and rotated over the score. Instructions in German, French and English are printed on the back cover. Area of toning to the edge of the front cover, otherwise fine. 9.5 x 13.5 inches (24 x 34 cm).
Together with the score to Stockhausen's Klavierstücke I–IV (Wien, London: Universal Edition, 1954.). First edition. 14 pp. U.E. 12251. Very fine, 9 x 12 inches (23.2 x 30.5 cm).
Refrain's title refers to the disturbance six times of a placid and wide-rangingly composed sound texture by a short refrain. These refrains are notated on a rotatable transparent plastic strip, superimposed on curved staves which allow the refrain to be repositioned in order to introduce these disturbances in different places. Each of the three performers plays an accessory instrument (woodblocks, cymbals, and cowbells) in addition to a main instrument. The three performers also are required to vocalise tongue clicks on five approximate pitches and short, sharp phonetic syllables to be pitched near the sounds they play, in a manner reminiscent of Japanese theatre. Although the work was well-received overall, some controversy was stirred up by its unconventional notation and its relation to the resulting music. In a 1962 review of the printed score, Robert Henderson doubted whether "there are people with the energy and enthusiasm to work out in detail the precise significance of all these complex signs and then make from them a performance" and, if there were, whether "the labour involved could ever be justified by the end-product", pronouncing it merely "an amusing musical kaleidescope [sic] for those with unlimited amounts of unoccupied time."
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. (1928–2007). Refrain and Klavierstücke I-IV - Two Scores. London: Universal Edition. 1961. First Edition.
Score to the important twentieth-century composer's 1959 chamber work for piano, vibraphone and celeste. 4to. U.E. 13187. Printed on a single folded card sheet, the score is written partly on curved staves, to allow a transparent plastic strip printed with further performance directions to be superimposed and rotated over the score. Instructions in German, French and English are printed on the back cover. Area of toning to the edge of the front cover, otherwise fine. 9.5 x 13.5 inches (24 x 34 cm).
Together with the score to Stockhausen's Klavierstücke I–IV (Wien, London: Universal Edition, 1954.). First edition. 14 pp. U.E. 12251. Very fine, 9 x 12 inches (23.2 x 30.5 cm).
Refrain's title refers to the disturbance six times of a placid and wide-rangingly composed sound texture by a short refrain. These refrains are notated on a rotatable transparent plastic strip, superimposed on curved staves which allow the refrain to be repositioned in order to introduce these disturbances in different places. Each of the three performers plays an accessory instrument (woodblocks, cymbals, and cowbells) in addition to a main instrument. The three performers also are required to vocalise tongue clicks on five approximate pitches and short, sharp phonetic syllables to be pitched near the sounds they play, in a manner reminiscent of Japanese theatre. Although the work was well-received overall, some controversy was stirred up by its unconventional notation and its relation to the resulting music. In a 1962 review of the printed score, Robert Henderson doubted whether "there are people with the energy and enthusiasm to work out in detail the precise significance of all these complex signs and then make from them a performance" and, if there were, whether "the labour involved could ever be justified by the end-product", pronouncing it merely "an amusing musical kaleidescope [sic] for those with unlimited amounts of unoccupied time."