Helicopter String Quartet plot
The composition 'Helicopter-Streichquartett' by Karlheinz Stockhausen is the third movement by Mittwoch from his opera cycle Licht. It is a composition for four helicopters and a string quartet. In June 1995 this wonderful music theater piece had its world premiere during the Holland Festival. The four members of the Arditti String Quartet each took off in a helicopter equipped with a transmitter. Image and sound were then beamed over to the hall where Stockhausen, like a true wizard, mixed the incoming sounds of both the helicopters (as an integral part of the composition) and that of the musicians on the spot. Director Frank Scheffer filmed the entire spectacle and incorporated it into a documentary. The images of the performance of the composition are interspersed with images of the preparations, rehearsals and conversations with Stockhausen.