The one hundred and seventy-fifth classical recording: #907 Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gruppen

While one of the headline mentions about this piece may sound big - it requires three orchestras, each effectively playing their own piece but interacting with each other - it doesn't feel like that's what dominates when you start listening to Gruppen. If anything, it feels the opposite, where the sparse and disjointed groups of notes (from the name of the piece) often come in on their own, standing alone. I suspect listening to it at home doesn't help with that small feeling - normally the three orchestras would be set up so listening to this piece becomes as much a spatial experience as it is auditory, but it's hard to replicate that (and no, there are no upcoming performances I could attend that would cover this...). It's a fascinating piece in that sense, with an ambition that doesn't quite follow its goal but that remains captivating nonetheless.