Space Jam

When we left you at the end of last season, the Philharmonic had transplanted to the Park Avenue Armory for a spatial-music program headlined by Stockhausen’s Gruppen. But we’re not done exploring space. The new season’s opening concerts, September 19–22, will feature pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performing György Kurtág’s … quasi una fantasia … (opening bars pictured above), which places five instrumental groups around the hall.

“There is deliberate chaos and there is chaos that comes about by mistake,” Kurtág said. ”In the second movement of … quasi una fantasia … I was out to place chaos in space, in the hope that it would sound clearer.”

It Isn’t Over Yet!

There is still time to witness Philharmonic 360, the New York Philharmonic’s groundbreaking “concert in the round” at the Park Avenue Armory, streaming on medici.tv. The June 29–30 concerts resulted from Alan Gilbert’s vision that Park Avenue Armory would be just the setting and partner to pull off Stockhausen’s Gruppen and other works by Mozart, Ives, and Boulez, all calling for a most unusual positioning of player and audience member.

This video, shot with ten cameras, allows you to move around the space, giving you an even broader sense of perspective than those who were there!

Did you miss Philharmonic 360, the sold-out event that had everyone abuzz?

Were you one of the lucky attendees, but you’re itching to relive the experience? (Who could blame you?)

Is “see Gruppen performed” still on your bucket list?

You’re in luck. With footage captured by 10 strategically placed cameras, the Philharmonic produced a webcast of Philharmonic 360, which medici.tv begins streaming today at 2:00 p.m. EDT and which will be available for 90 days. 

Philharmonic 360 was co-produced by the Orchestra and the Park Avenue Armory.  Q2 Music will also stream audio of the concert July 10, 11, and 14. More info at q2music.org.

The luckiest audience in the world tonight will be at New York Philharmonic 360 performance at Park Avenue Armory in New York.
The highlight is Stockhasuen’s Gruppen for three orchestra; I say no more…

(Source: omnisound)

Holiday Wishes From One Visionary To Another

Archivists from the Stockhausen Foundation for Music discovered this 1969 Christmas Card from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

No doubt Lennon would have claimed a Back Jack seat in the middle of the action for the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Stockhausen’s Gruppen this Friday and Saturday at the Park Avenue Armory.

Wishes for a Magnus-ficent Birthday

Today we celebrate Magnus Lindberg’s birthday. We get to do so in person, since the Finnish composer is in town for the culmination of his tenure as our Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence — a three-year partnership that led to the birth of four new works (including his Piano Concerto No. 2, available as a download), the creation of our CONTACT! series, and New York premieres including of Kraft — with his role as one of the three conductors leading Stockhausen’s Gruppen this weekend in Philharmonic 360. We’ll miss you, Magnus; come back often!

“ ‘Gruppen’ is known to be a masterpiece of my father.
I grew up with it. Have a wonderful performance. ”

— Kind words from Markus Stockhausen via email in anticipation of the New York Philharmonic’s performance of his father’s Gruppen as part of Philharmonic 360, a co-presentation with Park Avenue Armory.

Don’t Stare Too Long…

Your eyes might get stuck that way. Above is just one page of the score for Stockhausen’s massive, three-orchestra Gruppen. ”It’s a headache piece for three conductors,” Magnus Lindberg told the Wall Street Journal. Magnus, Alan Gilbert, and Matthias Pintscher have their work cut out for them next June 29 and 30, when they conduct the space (and vision?)-altering work.

Karlheinz Stockhausen „Gruppen|für 3 Orchester|Nr. 6“

© Copyright 1963 by Universal Edition (London) Ltd., London/UE 13673

“ Its tumult of simultaneous impulses suggests the disparate sounds of New York as heard from a random street corner ”

— Music Director Alan Gilbert describes the sound world of Stockhausen’s Gruppen to Steve Smith of The New York Times. In this Arts & Leisure preview of Philharmonic 360, the two spread out the sprawling score to talk about the logistics of coordinating three simultaneous conductors and orchestras, how the Orchestra’s special event June 29–30 will fill the spaces of the Park Avenue Armory, and how Don Giovanni gets into the act.