Radio Cologne Sound
Das Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR
Edited by Harry Vogt and Martina Seeber
288 pp., gatefold brochure, folder with 5 CDs
German/English
Rarely has a radio institution left such a mark on music history in such a short space of time. Founded in 1951, the WDR Studio for Electronic Music hit the headlines early on, at times transforming Cologne into the metropolis of new music, attracting not only composers. Radio Cologne Sound traces the eventful history of the studio in essays, recordings, pictures and personal memories: from the golden 50s and 60s through times of opening and stagnation to the late heyday. Three portraits are dedicated to the studio directors Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen and York Höller. Other texts shed light on the intense interplay between technology and aesthetics, the teamwork in the studio, its international appeal and the important question of performance practice: How can electronic music be brought to the stage when the technology has long been ready for the museum? The heart of the book is the sound of “Radio Cologne”: 28 tracks on five CDs allow us to look back over half a century.
CD 1
1 Heinz Schütz Morgenröte (1952) 2 Karel Goeyvaerts Compositie Nr.5 met zuivere tonen (1953) 3 Gottfried Michael Koenig Klangfiguren I (1955) 4 Giselher Klebe Interferenzen (1955) 5 Karlheinz Stockhausen Gesang der Jünglinge (1955–56) 6 Franco Evangelisti Incontri di fasce sonore (1957) 7 György Ligeti Artikulation (1958) 8 Herbert Brün Anepigraphe (1958) 9 Mauricio Kagel Transición I (1958–59) 10 Herbert Eimert Epitaph für Aikichi Kuboyama (1960–62)
CD 2
1 Johannes Fritsch Fabula rasa (1964) 2 Michael von Biel Fassung (1964) 3 Karlheinz Stockhausen Mikrophonie II (1965) 4 Peter Eötvös Mese (1968) 5 Mesías Maiguashca Hör zu (1969)
CD 3
1 Nicolaus A. Huber Aion (1968/72) 2 Henri Pousseur Lob des Langen Marsches (1972–73) 3 Winfried Jentzsch Cellomusik (1972/74) 4 Rolf Gehlhaar Fünf deutsche Tänze (1975) 5 Thomas Kessler Dialoge (1977)
CD 4
1 Iannis Xenakis La Légende d’Eer (1977–78) 2 York Höller Schwarze Halbinseln (1982) 3 Michael Obst Chansons (1986) 4 John McGuire Vanishing Points (1988)
CD 5
1 Youngi Pagh-Paan Tsi-Shin-Kut (1991/1994) 2 Jonathan Harvey One Evening… (1993–94) 3 Luc Ferrari Porte Ouverte sur Ville (1994) 4 Marco Stroppa Zwielicht (1994–99)
TOC (PDF)
