Karlheinz Stockhausen’s final epic,
KLANG: The 24 Hours of the Day, will be presented in full. Intended to include 24 pieces but left incomplete at the time of Stockhausen’s death, this 21-part work gives space to meditate on time, spirituality, and reality, allowing the audience to reflect on the meaning of mortality. This production is presented by
Analog Arts and
Elizabeth Huston and features performances by Cologne’s
Ensemble MusikFabrik.
Stockhausen worked closely with Ensemble MusikFabrik during his lifetime, including on
KLANG, and the Ensemble will share their first-hand knowledge with local musicians in the rehearsals leading up to the performance. The Ensemble will perform "5. Harmonien," "10. Glanz," and "17. Nebadon" during the "
KLANG in Concert" portion of the program.
Flexible seating, a comprehensive program book, and scheduled lectures by Stockhausen experts provide the audience with a rare opportunity to thoroughly engage with this masterwork. Attendees will be able to hear the work in its entirety on both days of the production over the course of fourteen hours through four unique but cohesive concert experiences:
KLANG Up Close (10am – 1pm): An intimate look at Stockhausen’s music in the FringeArts Studio where the audience can recline on the floor and get as close as they want to the musicians.
Modular KLANG (1pm – 4pm): The audience shapes their own version of
KLANG during simultaneous performances in the FringeArts Theater and Studio.
KLANG Immersion (4pm – 7pm): The audience is invited onto the stage of the FringeArts Theater to hear the music in a unique way.
KLANG in Concert (7pm – 12am): An abridged version of the entire
KLANG cycle played in sequence.
KLANG is composed of three sections. Section one deals with the spiritual world and features performances reflecting the ascension of Christ, the joy of Pentecost, and the door to heaven opening into the pieces of section two, which contains the music that is heard in heaven. The seven pieces of the second section, all instrumental trios, are based on the same underlying music, rearranged and re-imagined to create seven beautifully different yet increasingly familiar-sounding works. The final section takes an immediate and surprising turn towards the imagined universe of
Urantia. This section begins with the only fully electronic piece, "Cosmic Pulses," and then dives into pieces based on
Urantia, a mysterious text which appeared in the early 20th century with no known author. This book describes unknown universes, each planet of which is represented by an electro-acoustic performance in the second section.
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