Événement

Analog Arts performs Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Cosmic Pulses"

Cosmic Pulses, the last piece of electronic music that German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen ever wrote, will have its New York premiere as part of the fourth annual Darmstadt: Essential Repertoire Festival.

With an 8-channel sound system surrounding the audience, Cosmic Pulses is a behemoth of a piece, more sonic roller coaster than traditional concert music. The piece envelops the audience in a swirl of sound with a subwoofer on every channel. Cosmic Pulses is also the key to understanding Stockhausen's final phase as a composer.

In 2004, after completing Light, his cycle of 7 operas for each day of the week, Stockhausen began a new cycle called Sound, for the 24 hours in a day. Written in 2007, Cosmic Pulses is the 13th hour from the Sound cycle. The remaining pieces in the cycle use partial mix-downs of Cosmic Pulses as tape accompaniments for live performers.

Cosmic Pulses will be paired on the program with Stockhausen's early electronic masterpiece Telemusik (1966) and an excerpt from Orchestra Finalists (1996), the second scene of Wednesday from the Light cycle.

The concert will be performed by Joe Drew, from Analog Arts. Drew is a trumpeter and composer who specializes in the music of Stockhausen, and he projected the US premiere of Cosmic Pulses in 2008. That same year, Drew toured with Markus Stockhausen and Marco Blaauw in musikFabrik's production of Michael's Journey Around the World, the second act from the entire Light cycle. Drew is also the director of the Iron Composer competition and a doctoral fellow at NYU Steinhardt.

Analog Arts will give the New York premiere of "Cosmic Pulses," the last piece of electronic music that Karlheinz Stockhausen composed. The music envelops the listener in a constant swirl of sound; using an 8-channel sound system with subwoofers on each channel, the piece is felt as much as heard.

This performance is underwritten by Analog Arts, a non-profit production company.

Support for Darmstadt: Essential Repertoire has been provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York's 62 counties.