Reading the title Klänge des Augenblicks (Sounds of the Moment) aloud, the eye is unconsciously drawn to the book cover: the stars against the dark night sky perfectly symbolize the flashing sparks of sonic thought. The cosmic cover image is no coincidence, for the EFIM is an Ensemble for Intuitive Music – and this music is inseparably connected with cosmic consciousness. The addition “1980–2024” makes clear that the book, with its roughly three hundred illustrations, focuses on the sensuously perceptible history of the ensemble. For 44 years, the musician, journalist, and founder of the ensemble, Michael von Hintzenstern, meticulously collected photos, letters, articles, and other contemporary documents that together provide an overview of the genesis and activity of the group from Weimar.

The narrative thread is spun from the author’s autobiographical memories, yet the artistic development of other ensemble members also takes on increasingly clear contours in the course of the documentation. The ensemble included three other musicians who pursued their own artistic paths outside EFIM: the composer of electroacoustic works Hans Tutschku, the cellist Matthias von Hintzenstern, and the horn and trumpet player Daniel Hoffmann. All originally from the GDR, these musicians already showed, at a young age, an interest in the officially unwanted New Music, which in the political and cultural diction of the GDR was associated with the label “decadent Western culture.”

Impulses and Influences

The West German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) was considered a pioneer of avant-garde music in the 1970s. Inspired by his works, the then 14-year-old Michael von Hintzenstern sought to begin a correspondence with him, which over the following years became increasingly intense. The special significance of such an exchange of letters in the cultural climate of a divided Germany is difficult to overstate. For this reason, musicologists describe Hintzenstern’s thorough engagement with a composer perceived negatively in the GDR as both unique and fearless. In keeping with Stockhausen’s later motto, “Fearlessly forward,” Hintzenstern also developed an interest in musical forms that were taboo in his hometown – one of which was Intuitive Music. This arises directly in the moment of performance. It is predetermined by the composer’s verbal instructions to the musicians, but only comes into being through the performers’ own interpretation, taking on a new shape and form each time. According to Stockhausen’s idea, the interpreting musicians function like radio receivers connected to the composer’s “creative streams.” Performances of such works soon became the main activity of EFIM, founded in 1980, consisting of clarinet, cello, EMS synthesizer, and organ.

While the first chapter of the book describes the circumstances of the ensemble’s founding, subsequent sections focus on the many concerts, festivals, encounters with various musicians and artists, and the wide variety of performance forms. Another chapter is dedicated to the first personal encounter between Michael von Hintzenstern and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Kürten, where the composer lived. The atmosphere described of this meeting on a sunny December day, and the first impression of the composer “with a radiant expression and electrifying aura,” brought the reviewer striking parallels with her own memories of a first meeting with the master, marked by his “attentiveness, indeed fatherly care and warmth.” Encounters with the trumpeter Markus Stockhausen, the composer’s son, are also described – not least because Markus Stockhausen, following this first acquaintance, traveled more often from Cologne to the GDR for joint performances, thus making possible a “cross-border collaboration.”

Traditions and Challenges

The main part of this retrospective account is devoted to the ensemble’s musical activities between 1980 and 1990, alternating between documentary episodes and passages on specific themes. Reports of the ensemble’s participation in the Tage Neuer Musik festival in Weimar are supplemented by imaginative and colorful poster illustrations. A map showing the locations of the 125 EFIM concerts in the GDR gives an idea of the ensemble’s concert and touring activity. Alongside concert reviews, photos, and posters, the documentation also contains reports from the Ministry for State Security. Thus the Stasi informant “Lutz Müller” noted in December 1982, on the occasion of a private music evening in Erfurt: “After an hour of ‘Stockhausen music,’ the gathering turned into a convivial get-together with beer, wine, and bread with lard […]”.

A common reaction to such restrictions on progressive creativity is – historically speaking – an increase in artistic potential. The chapter “Radiophony” demonstrates in an illuminating way the multifunctionality of the radio as transmitter, receiver, and musical instrument. For young people in the GDR, such a transistor radio had a special meaning, since it could be taken anywhere and usually received Western stations as well. In the atmosphere of totalitarian information control, it was one of the few opportunities for cultural enrichment and for broadening one’s own aesthetic horizon. For Michael von Hintzenstern, it also provided a path for artistic expression. After explaining the development of a new tradition of using interactive and experimental formats in radiophony, the description of “household-appliance music” culminates in an EFIM performance: a telephone concert in which listeners were invited to participate. Even today, such a format has lost none of its relevance, if one considers telephone listener participation as a participatory element of performance. With regard to EFIM’s artistic activities, these radio projects are all the more remarkable as they are thematically linked to the original conception of Intuitive Music, thereby connecting Stockhausen’s idea with the radiophonic tradition that arose in the GDR.

Another interplay is found in the chapter “Church and Organ in Denstedt. A Niche for New Music,” which reports on sound experiments in the village church near Weimar, played on an organ once used by Franz Liszt. Since 1981, Denstedt became a “niche of undisturbed creativity” in an otherwise avant-garde-critical environment and established itself as an outstanding venue for avant-garde music. To this day, Stockhausen’s compositions are regularly programmed there, as well as performances with various ensembles, such as a theremin player, alongside works by Liszt and his contemporaries.

Finally, Sounds of the Moment contains numerous references to connections with various art forms and genres such as dance theater, park music, film, Dada, Fluxus, and sound installations, which invite further reading. Nevertheless, two thematically relevant focal points remain clear: the inspiration and influence of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s work, and the realization of this and other artistic undertakings within the cultural-political context of the late GDR, which not only presented challenges but also led to genuinely creative solutions.

Dr. Katerina Grohmann, Musicologist, Berlin

Michael von Hintzenstern: Klänge des Augenblicks. 44 Jahre Ensemble für Intuitive Musik Weimar. 1980–2024, 256 S., Weimar: Klang Projekte Weimar 2024, ISBN 978-3-00-078834-5; 44 €