18 Jan
2009
18 Jan
'09
9:21 a.m.
Fons Adriaensen wrote:
On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 01:00:06PM +0100, Jörn
Nettingsmeier wrote:
Earlier today in Rome there was a performance of
Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet (the third ever
worldwide) in which the four members of a string
quartet perform in as many helicopter hovering
above the concert hall, with the resulting music
being reproduced for the audience inside.
I've not seen any engineering reports on it so far,
but it must have been a nice challenge as well.
wow. somebody finally did it? i know there have been at least two
attempts before, and both were cancelled as the expenses were
skyrocketing :)
the tricky part of the heli quartet is that not only do you need 4
bi-directional wireless audio links (the quality of which is pretty
secondary, given the available s/n inside a helicopter - i guess you
could do it with standard uhf audio gear and pimped antennae), but you
also need 4 very high quality video links for the musicians to be shown
on screens in the auditorium. and i would imagine a helicopter cockpit
to be a quite emr-unfriendly environment, and the available power to be
rather noisy...
even greater than the engineering challenge will be the challenge of
getting anybody to pay for that bs^H^Hthe realisation of such a
visionary piece of art. which seems to have succeeded :)
<flamebait>while i do have a soft spot for the old geezer from sirius, i
think the money would have been better spent on a whole bunch of other
works less heavy on artistic hubris and a bit better equipped in the
taste department.</flamebait>
jörn