Helikopter Streichquartett

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The piece lasts just under 30 minutes, which is just about the amount of time you'd need in order to explain this unusual, thoroughly baffling recording from avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Created for a string quartet, the Helicopter Quartet requires four players to be whisked into air via ... you guessed it, four helicopters, where they perform Stockhausen's short piece (repetitive and heavy on the tremoli) in flight, linked via microphones and monitors to one another. The rotor blades of the helicopters help keep a steady, unrelenting pace, and the Arditti perform with plenty of energy and as much bow attack as you can fit into a helicopter cabin, but the piece itself lacks the magic of Stockhausen's best works (for starters, check out the legendary Kontakte). Fans of the composer (and sonic weirdness) will probably love this unsettling (and somewhat creepy) composition, but the rest of us will either want a little less (or perhaps a lot more) turbulence in our performance art. --Jason Verlinde --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Helikopter Streichquartett, Music, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Arditti String Quartet, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Music, Music for Tape/Electronics and Live Performer(s)

Stockhausen: Helikopter Streichquartett ("Helicopter" String Quartet) (Arditti Quartet Edition, Vol. 35)
Average customer rating:

The only interesting part

Be Honest

Unique

A performance concept with potential, but a pointless CD.

Continually misunderstood

Stockhausen: Helikopter Streichquartett ("Helicopter" String Quartet) (Arditti Quartet Edition, Vol. 35)
Karlheinz Stockhausen , and Arditti String Quartet
Manufacturer: Auvidis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00004NJJX
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Amazon.com

The piece lasts just under 30 minutes, which is just about the amount of time you'd need in order to explain this unusual, thoroughly baffling recording from avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Created for a string quartet, the Helicopter Quartet requires four players to be whisked into air via ... you guessed it, four helicopters, where they perform Stockhausen's short piece (repetitive and heavy on the tremoli) in flight, linked via microphones and monitors to one another. The rotor blades of the helicopters help keep a steady, unrelenting pace, and the Arditti perform with plenty of energy and as much bow attack as you can fit into a helicopter cabin, but the piece itself lacks the magic of Stockhausen's best works (for starters, check out the legendary Kontakte). Fans of the composer (and sonic weirdness) will probably love this unsettling (and somewhat creepy) composition, but the rest of us will either want a little less (or perhaps a lot more) turbulence in our performance art. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

The only interesting part.......2007-06-29

In my humble opinion, the only truly interesting bit in the entire string quartet is when the cellist falls out of his helicopter in the third movement, and must be rescued from the craggy rocks below. The sound of blood splattering against the helicopter blades adds a pizzicato-like effect that compensates for the incessant chopping sound that humans unanimously associate with helicopters (otherwise known as "choppers"). This feature of the piece must be responsible for its infrequent performances, as it must be agreed that breaking one's neck for the sake of this risible member of the so-called musical avant garde does not exactly qualify as a career-advancing move.

Be Honest.......2004-01-25

How many of you think nothing of listening to music in the car, on the bus or in public with headphones, or even at home with the dog barking and the neighbor's lawnmower in the background? In other words, anywhere but the otherwise silent environment the composer surely had in mind when he wrote the piece. All Stockhausen has done is add the inevitable background noise, in a controlled manner and blending harmoniously with the instruments.

Unique.......2003-06-03

The "Helicopter String Quartet" comes from Stockhausen's opera, "Mittwoch aus LICHT" (Wednesday from Light), and is characteristic of the many new horizons this famous composer has been exploring in his LICHT cycle of operas (7 in all). Most of the reviews here have lamented the unremittent tedium and monotony of the music, and yes, the piece is very slow in moving and some parts feel repetitive to the extreme. In fact, the uniqueness of this piece can most likely only be experienced in a live performance (which, for obvious reasons, is something of a rarity) as one would be able to SEE as well as hear the performance. However, this disc does its best to capture the spirit and sound of a unique work. The String Quartet is 30-minute long series of string tremolos based on complicated formulae set forth by Stockhausen for the entire LICHT cycle. There are three themes (Michael, Eve, and Lucifer) and each is heard over and over as the quartet progresses. Also blended with these tremolos is the sound of the helicopters' blades rotating in the background. For a good introduction to the unique sound of this piece, head to Stockhausen's official site... where you can find, on the Multimedia page, a five minute sound clip of the Helicopter String Quartet from the beginning of the ascent into the middle of the introduction. This will give you a firm idea of exactly what is on this disc, BEFORE you buy it!

A performance concept with potential, but a pointless CD........2002-09-18

This 1992-93 Stockhausen composition/conception is pretty interesting. In June of 1995, in three performances, the renowned Arditti String Quartet was lifted into the air in four helicopters (one performer per chopper). Their respective performances were broadcast onto giant television screens and through speakers, situated in an audio-visual hall as well as outdoors. In addition to watching the performers on screen, the outdoor audience could see the helicopters hovering roughly six kilometers above them. At the end of the performance, cameras followed the musicians and pilots from the helicopters to the hall, where they were introduced to the audience - an entrance to put just about any rock stars' to shame!

There seems to be a lot to talk about here. The performance sets up an interesting relationship between performer and audience, separating the audience by a distance of six kilometers from the performers they've converged to watch and listen to. The outdoor screens and the placement of the helicopters themselves places avant garde performance into a public and real-time sphere. It lends an unmistakable sense of awe and spectacle to the performance. Etc., etc. But everything that's interesting to me about this concept is tied up in the idea of performance, and unfortunately does not translate, frankly, at all to home listening.

Worse, this CD does not record the aforementioned performance. Rather, the composition written for this performance was recorded in a studio at a later date, and then a canned recording of the slightly irregular hum of spinning helicopter rotor blades was added in the background. So this CD isn't even a document of an interesting idea, but simply a rather straight-forward string quartet recording (on the virtues of the actual composition I can't very well speak, I'm not exactly a "trained ear") muddied up with some fairly annoying helicopter noise (the musical appeal of the rotor noise seems minimal, at least in this recording, and to me it is the least interesting thing the helicopters have to offer). Kind of a pointless release, I'm afraid. The worst of it is that recordings of two of the three June 1995 performances do exist in the Stockhausen Foundation archives. So why not at least release one of those rather than this utter failure?

Continually misunderstood.......2001-09-02

Stockhausen's music has been continually misunderstood by the classical public, and by the "unclassical" people as well. His music is mostly referred to by its superficial effects, the "crazy sounds" that disturb most of the classical public and that inspired rock-pop-techno listeners, and free jazz improvisers as well. Given the originality of the means required for its performance, the "Helikopter Quartet" has good chances to be Stockhausen's most misunderstood composition. Most of the classical public did not listen to this piece but after reading some (often negative) review in the newspapers they refer to it as "just more noise by Stockhausen" (after reading several reviews in European newspapers I have the impression that some reviewers did not really listen to the piece, just had it as background noise when writing - a Swedish reviewer was apparently more interested on the reaction of his cat to the music), and the other public is probably disappointed, as this composition is definitely not "crazy" enough for them. Paraphrasing Mr. Babbit, who cares if, or how, they listen?

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