Auvidis available on November 07 2014 from Amazon for $13.81
UPC bar code 713746144524 ξ1 registered November 07 2014
Product category is Audio
Manufacturered by Auvidis
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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
