''Helicopter String Quartet'' (screen title: ''Karlheinz Stockhausen: Helicopter String Quartet'') is a 78-minute 1996 Dutch English- and German-language independent underground experimental documentary art film directed by

Frank Scheffer Frank Scheffer (born 1956 in Venlo) is a Dutch director, cinematographer and producer of documentary film, mostly known for his work ''Conducting Mahler'' (1996) on the 1995 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam with Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, R ...

Synopsis

The film, produced by , documents the preparations and rehearsals in 1995 for the world-premiere performance by the

Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. They ...

of the 1993 composition ''

Helikopter-Streichquartett The ''Helikopter-Streichquartett'' () is one of Karlheinz Stockhausen's best-known pieces, and one of the most complex to perform. It involves a string quartet, four helicopters with pilots, as well as audio and video equipment and technicians. ...

'' (English: Helicopter String Quartet) by

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

. This piece requires four separate helicopters (provided for the 1995 performances by the

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

). Within it, each helicopter carries (in addition to the pilot) one member of a string quartet, a sound technician, television camera, video, and three-channel audio transmitters, and all flying through the air simultaneously. It was premiered at the

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and architec ...

. The film contains interviews with Stockhausen, the string players

Garth Knox Garth Knox (born 8 October 1956 in Dublin, Ireland) is a violist and composer who specializes in contemporary classical music and new music. Biography Knox was the youngest of four siblings, and although he was born in Ireland, he was raised in ...

Rohan de Saram Deshamanya Frank Rohan de Saram (9 March 1939 – 29 September 2024) was a British and Sri Lankan cellist who focused on contemporary music both as a soloist and as the cellist of the Arditti Quartet from 1979 to 2005. He learned both Western m ...

Irvine Arditti Irvine Arditti (born 8 February 1953) is a British violinist, as well as the leader and founder of the Arditti Quartet. Biography Arditti attended the Central Foundation Boys' School in London before continuing his studies at the Royal Academy ...

, and Graeme Jennings, and the pilots about the piece. The film was premiered at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

in October 1996, where it was nominated for several awards, was also screened at the

Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, ) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The festival had its first edition in April 1999 and i ...

in April 2005, and was released on DVD by

Medici.tv Medici.tv (stylized as medici.tv), created in 2008, is a video streaming platform for classical music, ballet, and jazz. History Portal founding The Medici.tv portal was co-founded in 2008 by Hervé Boissière and pianist and businessperson ...

's label Medici Arts.

Reception

Critic Ben Sachs wrote: "I'm a dunce when it comes to the music, but I found the movie fascinating, in part because the story has so much ready-made suspense. Any number of things could go wrong in the execution of the quartet, and it's entertaining to see how the composer and his crew respond to each problem that arises—it's something of an intellectual action movie".

References

External links

* * * * (Medici.tv's Medici Arts Channel) {{in lang, de 1990s avant-garde and experimental films 1996 documentary films 1996 independent films 1996 films Documentary films about aviation Documentary films about classical music and musicians Documentary films about music festivals Dutch avant-garde and experimental films Dutch documentary films Dutch independent films 1990s English-language films Films about composers Films directed by Frank Scheffer Films set in 1995 Films set in Amsterdam Films shot in Amsterdam 1990s German-language films 1996 multilingual films Dutch multilingual films English-language documentary films English-language independent films