A few months ago, there was some discussion on the list concerning the 2001 Polar Price ceremony in Stockholm, where Karl Bartos spoke the laudatio for Karlheinz Stockhausen (The other award winners were Bob Moog -see below- and Burt Bacharach). Someone asked whether Stockhausen even knew Kraftwerk, as he did not recognize "Autobahn" in the first place. Well, now some quite interesting first hand information has appeared on the Stockhausen website (the text was written by Suzanne Stephens, a longtime collaborator of Stockhausen): ... As we ate, Karl Bartos of the group Kraftwerk came over to our table to introduce himself and to say that he had been asked to speak StockhausenÂs laudatio during the awards ceremony, and that he was honoured to do so. As many of you know, Kraftwerk is another one of the many groups who says that they were greatly influenced by the music of Stockhausen. Therefore, it is a very fitting choice to have asked him. ... After the interview we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with the German ambassador and his wife at the German Embassy in Stockholm. (...) The German ambassador in Stockholm often has the occasion to entertain German nobel prize winners, but this was the first time that a German had been awarded the Polar Music Prize. Also present were Stuart Ward, manager of the Polar Music Prize, Ake Holmquist, General Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, all of the musicians who were performing StockhausenÂs works that weekend, Karl Bartos and his wife,and several other guests (...) ... The performance of GESANG DER JÃNGLINGE went perfectly and then Karl Bartos walked onto the stage to read the laudatio. He first briefly spoke to Stockhausen in German, saying that he felt very honoured to be present on this occasion and that he extended his own personal warm congratulations for the well-deserved prize which Stockhausen was now being awarded. Then he spoke the official laudatio: ÂEver since his first compositions in the 1950s, Karlheinz Stockhausen, from Germany, has stood at the forefront of musical development. While no contemporary composer has generated as much heated discussion as he does, no one can deny StockhausenÂs importance and pivotal role. StockhausenÂs work, GESANG DER JÃNGLINGE, composed in 1956, first brought electronic music to the public eye and is still considered to be one of the masterpieces of its kind. At the start of the 1960s, Stockhausen turned his interest toward live electronics. At the same time, he began exhibiting an interest in oriental philosopy and religion and became a pioneer of world music and the meditative form. Since 1977, he has been working on his soon to be completed LICHT-opera, the greatest musical endeavor since WagnerÂs ring. Karlheinz Stockhausen is being awarded the Polar Music Prize for 2001 for a career as a composer that has been characterized by impeccable integrity and never-ceasing creativity, and for having stood at the forefront of musical development for fifty years. Then HM King Carl XVI Gustaf walked onto the stage, presented Stockhausen with the citation, and shook his hand. ... Following this, Stockhausen gave an interview with the Swedish national television for the Culture News during which he was asked, among other things, how he felt about the fact that many of the young generation of techno musicians claim that StockhausenÂs music greatly influenced their musical ideas. He said that he is pleased that the younger generation is finally beginning to spend time experimenting with sound in studios, and that he considered it a compliment that they were familiar with, and respected his work. Asked in detail about the music of some of the groups, he said he was not well informed, but that young musicians regularly send him recordings of their work and he often listens to them and sends them his comments. In one of the many interviews which he had given per telephone and in person in connection with the Polar Music Prize prior to coming to Stockholm, he had been asked about the fact that he has always had a major influence on progressive pop music, such as that of the Beatles, Can, and Kraftwerk, and he was asked how he thought his music had influenced them. He couldnÂt answer that question, but upon hearing an excerpt played over earphones and asked if he knew what group it was, he guessed correctly when he heard the words Autobahn Autobahn Autobahn ... We just had time to deposit our suitcases in the rooms before we walked over to the nearby Royal Swedish Academy of Music where the press conference was to take place. Before it began, Stockhausen and Robert Moog had a chance to briefly chat. During the activities of the weekend they never had time to Âtalk shopÂ, but they agreed to keep in touch because, Stockhausen is very much interested in MoogÂs new analogue synthesizers, which allow better individual sound synthesis than the commercial digital synthesizers do. ... It seemed as if they could have gone on talking with each other forever, but finally had to stop for questions from the audience. Moog and Stockhausen agreed to keep in touch to discuss StockhausenÂs many complaints about the synthesizers presently on the market and MoogÂs development of a new analogue synthesizer which could quiet allot of those complaints. I hope this was interesting to read for some people on the list. For me, it was.