Darmstadt: Essential Repertoire – Stockhausen’s “Cosmic Pulses,” Feldman’s “For Christian Wolff,” and Terry Riley’s “In C”

New York Premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Cosmic Pulses // Morton Feldman’s marathon For Christian Wolff // Darmstadt’s celebrated Terry Riley’s In C

Darmstadt “Classics of the Avant Garde” presents its fourth annual Essential Repertoire festival at ISSUE Project Room. Described as  “a conscious provocation on multiple levels” by the New York Times, and “one of the most significant presentations of the season” by Time Out New York, this “open-minded and inclusive” festival encompasses everything from Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music figurehead Karlheinz Stockhausen to godfather of the New York School, Morton Feldman to proto-minimalism pioneer Terry Riley.

The festival starts with a marathon reading of Morton Feldman’s For Christian Wolff.  Generally regarded as the most austere of Feldman’s late works, Ensemble Sospeso will perform this three-hour duet for flute and piano. On Friday, Analog Arts will give the New York premiere of Cosmic Pulses, the last piece of electronic music written by Karlheinz Stockhausen. With 8 channels of “sound projection” surrounding the audience, Cosmic Pulses is a sonic behemoth, and will be complemented by other Stockhausen works, Telemusik and Trompete. The festival will conclude with Darmstadt’s celebrated annual performance of Terry Riley’s 1964 Minimalist classic, In C, anchored—due to popular demand—by noted La Monte Young collaborator and former Swans drummer Jonathan Kane, who made his debut with the ensemble last year. This electrifying yearly new music jam session, called “the most vital, audacious and energizing performance of the score,” by the New York Times in 2007, has never before taken place at Issue Project Room.

Thursday, December 8 at 8 p.m.
Morton Feldman
For Christian Wolff (1986)
Ensemble Sospeso: Nicholas DeMaison (keyboards), Amelia Lukas (flute)

An “extended waking dream,” written and premiered in 1986, For Christian Wolff is scored for keyboards and flute, played here by Ensemble Sospeso’s Nicholas DeMaison and flutist Amelia Lukas. Generally regarded as the most austere of Feldman’s late works, For Christian Wolff is described by DeMaison as “fantastically quiet, full of pitches and yet somehow never quite emerging from a perpetual state of almost-being.” Since its Carnegie Hall debut in 1998, Ensemble Sospeso’s performances have been described as “stunning” (The New York Times), “a wonder to watch” (The Wall Street Journal) and “gorgeously rich” (The Village Voice).

Friday, December 9 at 8 p.m.
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Cosmic Pulses (2007), Telemusik (1966), Trumpet from Orchestra Finalists (1996)
Analog Arts: Joe Drew (trumpet and sound projection)

Joe Drew, of Analog Arts, will give the New York premiere of Cosmic Pulses, the last piece of electronic music Karlheinz Stockhausen wrote. With an 8-channel sound system surrounding the audience (and a subwoofer on every channel), Cosmic Pulses envelops the audience in a swirl of sound. Cosmic Pulses will be paired with Stockhausen’s early electronic masterpiece, Telemusik (1966) and an excerpt from Orchestra Finalists (1996), the second scene of Wednesday from the Licht cycle.