'Tierkreis' [Zodiac] is one of the most beautiful and accessible compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, which he issued in several different arrangements, allowing each interpreter to...

'Tierkreis' [Zodiac] is one of the most beautiful and accessible compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, which he issued in several different arrangements, allowing each interpreter to create his or her own version by using special formulas. With regard to his Realization 1 Svoboda, who had worked in close cooperation with Stockhausen for some years, says: 'I approached the composition the way jazz musicians approach a standard: they take inspiration from the melody and harmonic sequences and then express themselves spontaneously and very individually.' In the second realization he gave the musicians just a few improvisational structures and asked them to improvise freely on Stockhausen's melodies. Mike Svoboda's two realizations are a wonderful clarification of the composition.