'Stimmung' incorporates the meaning of the tuning of the voice, the tuning of a piano, the tuning of a group of people, the tuning of the soul...
Six singers amplified by six microphones tune to a low drone, inaudible to the audience, and expand upwards through pitch bending and overtone singing. In each section a new overtone melody or 'model' is introduced and repeated several times while some of the other singers gradually transform their own material until they have come into 'identity' with the lead singer. Each model is a set of rhythmic phonetic patterns with actual words, 'magic names' and fragments of Stockhausen's erotic poetry used as the basis.
Tonnta vocal ensemble led by Elizabeth Hiliard performed Karlheinz Stockhausen's Stimmung at Dublin City Hall.
I dropped in to listen to and document one of their early rehersals. I then made a set of independent images exploring the gentle colour shifts and hypnotic tonal layers that make up the piece.
Outtakes and some more or less candid photos of the singers during rehearsals:
