Karlheinz Stockhausen

Stockhausen has passed away. He had a huge impact on me when I was in college. I used to listen to works like Kontakte, and feel rather impressed by the organicness of it. And that's just it, I suppose. Listening to some "modern" music feels to me much like the kind of sensation I get from listening to nature, or from listening to the way a room full of people sounds. I don't dislike his music. But I don't detect melody in it. So it has fallen beneath my radar.

I have always been amazed that one of recent kings of melody, Paul McCartney, admired Stockhausen. It doesn't compute.