This is, though, just Stockhausen's hint as to the processes and content of his music. The real proof is in the music itself, which supersedes whatever anyone says about it.
His entire life is here within these dicrete lectures discussing the/his primary works of this century,"Kontakte" where after grueling sessions for days with Gottfried Michael Koenig.tech assistant in Cologne,he informed him that "we need to do it all over again",also"Mikrophonie",(one of the first live electronic works to grace the world) excursions into momente form, intuitive music,word pieces "from the Seven last days", the hippie-like "Stimmung" "voicings" on a single chord, (very Germanic, Boulez had said.) Even the early music of "Zeitmasse" for five winds is talked about defined as "early lyric and dramatic" forms,Also the percussion solo"Zyklus".
Whatever you may think of Stockhausen he is a genius and music has not been the same since.(he at one time thought he commuted with extraterrestrial beings)
What's missing is excursions into the operas, "Licht" one( an opera)for each day of the week.
There is also a fantastic addendum list of selected 16 mm films made throughout Karlheinz's life with addresses supposedly where obtainable.This list includes excerpts, fragments from the FORMULA from "Licht". "Samstag" is available in colour. Also a complete discography and list of works, until 1988. When queried on what a new music students today needs??, the reply was stuff for the ears, exercises, like transcribing an unknown musical work onto paper,cold,right now,"Hoerbildung" something he did with his monumental "Hymnen". Also playing more than one instrument is preferable to only one, and singing in a choir is helpful. For composition he relates a time in Rome teaching 120 participants for 19 Days,where he had each write a "Formula",(a pre-compositional-like planning), from his own work at such structural lunar planning, he would then criticize, make suggestions,then when the actual work was done, Stockhausen would play them all himself,again highlighting where a bad rhythm, a bad note, a bad pause may occur.Acoustics should also be a requirement, and dancing, dance within anyone any kind, disco,folk,get down. He also has very practical advise on just writing music,saying for instance how a Boulez score makes him tear his hair out, being so(Boulez's scores) "overdetermined". and Boulez had a meticulous musical mind.
This is a wonderful capsule OF a great musical mind of this century, and perhaps for those to come.