October 17th, 1996

Helicopter String Quartet

Documentary
Music
5.7

One morning, the late Karlheinz Stockhausen awoke from a dream that told him to take to the sky. Stockhausen envisioned four helicopters swirling in the clouds, with each of a quartet’s members tucked inside his own chopper, communicating through headsets, stringing away in sync to the rotor-blade motors. He immediately set forth to make that dream a reality. In 1995, Dutch film director Scheffer followed Stockhausen in the days leading up to the premiere performance of his Helicopter String Quartet in Amsterdam. The resulting film offers a rare glimpse of Stockhausen as he patiently dictates every agonizingly detailed measure to the Arditti Quartet.

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Cast

Sound

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Himself

Karlheinz Stockhausen
Acting

Irvine Arditti

Self

Acting

Graeme Jennings

Self

Acting

Garth Knox

Self

Acting

Rohan de Saram

Self

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