The Teacher: A man who had a fetish with Birds / The Student: A man who thought he was bird

Take one look at the picture above. It's the grave of Oliver Messiaen. It's actually quite a nice grave. The bird tombstone is a little off, but after I tell you about Karlheinz, Messiaen's student, you'll think that this is very normal.

Karlheinz Stockhausen could be called many things, but one of them is definitely not normal. From his outlandish ideas on human evolution to his Helicopter String Quartet, things didn't go right for this guy when he was growing up. Maybe his mother put her stomach in a microwave, who knows? Here's that Helicopter piece:

Rehearsal time must be expensive

I think they might have been a little off. It's hard to tell. Now his teacher, Oliver, has a handful or two of good works for the piano. I have always been familiar with his 4 rhythmic studies and how they work very well as a set. Recently, I have learned about the 2 hour long piece that he wrote about Jesus, also known as the "Jesus Pieces". That is a very technical term which must always be applied to this work. Within the two hour nap, I mean, piece, you have several good movements. My favorite of the set is the Regard de l'esprit de Joie. With a haystack of flashy octaves and interesting sounds, it has potential as an audience pleaser. The final set of his that I have always loved is his 8 preludes. These deserve more attention from performers and I also think that there is much to learn from these pieces. Take a look at one of the preludes:

Last one of the set - Un reflet dans le vent

Nice, isn't? Well, I am not really sure what he was teaching to Karlheinz, but his music didn't come out like that prelude. About Stockhausen, I think that his music is tolerable and even at times somewhat interesting, but it is made more for study and less for performance. Well, why don't you be the judge:

Would you sit through 14 minutes of this

I think that as we move further into the 21st century, composers are slowly getting away from this style of composition. Although some "stubborn" individuals will always compose like this, most of the good ones are realizing that this type of music ALIENATES audiences and makes many performers turn the other way. Without an audience and performers where would music be?

(Stockhausen's Grave)