Gesang Der Jünge – is a piece by the german composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, finished in 1956. This piece is arguably one of the greatest works in experimental music, working both with concrete sounds and electronic music, its innovation is compared with few. The piece is built from different recordings and processing of a boy singing phrases of biblical texts, then the recordings are combined with a wide palette of electronic sounds created by primitive synthesizers of the age. A key characteristic of the piece is the experimental use of panning. Stockhausen wrote: “By incorporating controlled positioning of the sound sources in space, it will have been possible for the first time to demonstrate aesthetically the universal application of my serial technique” (1955). This piece also was performed live with a quadrophonic setup, where the audience could really experience the creative spacing of sounds.

The complexity of this piece doesn’t stop to astonish me. Even though the piece could not be the most pleasant thing to hear, it has a powerful emotional value. I found a blog that did a deep analysis of the piece, where I found all the information referenced. The blog outlines from the structure of the piece to the equipment used. Below is the link attached and the video of Gesang Der Jünge.

Link to the blog: http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2015/01/opus-8-gesang-der-junglinge.html