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Listening Report to Karlheinz Stockhausen – Kontakte (Version 12 ½)

 

This piece by Karlheinz Stockhausen is creepy and disturbing in a horror movie kind of way. I do not know how to put all the feelings I experienced while listening to this strange piece into words, but I am going to try. Starting off with the fact that it gave me goosebumps, but not the kind of goosebumps you get when you enjoy something. It's the category of goosebumps you get when someone scratches their fingernails over a blackboard. In between it reminds me again, similar to Water Walk, of a cat running over the piano, only this time the notes were equalized.

But it could also be a child left alone with a keyboard, where you can change the sounds of the piano keys while you are playing it. Then the child plays cheerfully with the keys and creates this interesting piece of so-called music. And the parents are probably very proud of their little Mozart. I hope the sarcasm was clear here.         
 However, this piece of music brings out the worst feelings in me. I understand that Stockhausen was ahead of his time with this form of electronic music. Admittedly, I cannot understand how someone can voluntarily listen to this piece in its full length. I could only imagine it as background music for a science fiction movie or one of those very old black and white horror movies. I probably don't understand enough about music or its theory and therefore I can't quite understand the artistic aspect behind the piece.

Some parts of the piece are giving me a similar feeling like when I just woke up from a nap and have no idea what time it is or what day. This piece makes me angry and I impatiently wait for it to end. It is undoubtedly never going to be one of my favorite musical artworks. Halfway through I had already had enough of this nonsense, but I tried to stay strong and listen until the end.

In fact, this piece caused me physical pain in form of headaches while listening to it. It makes me twitchy, anxious and uncomfortable. In some parts of the piece, I wanted to crawl out of my skin and it made me shiver because it evoked a chilling sensation running down my back. It is like a robot and a horror movie soundtrack composer worked together on this piece to bring out the most annoying ensemble of sounds. Listening to this is literal torture and a half an hour of my life that I cannot get back. It made me furious, and it certainly did not help with my headache. It is for sure an excellent medium if you want to torture somebody. Just let them hear this song over and over again until they are going to buckle and confess everything. I do not want to listen to this piece ever again.

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