A subtle symphony began to stir within the vast expanse of the Park Avenue Armory’s drill hall. From distant corners, the gentle plink of piano keys echoed, each note ascending incrementally.
It was a Saturday, and a team of dedicated technicians, armed with specialized tools like felt ribbons and wrenches, were racing against the clock. Their mission: to meticulously tune each of the 50 Hailun pianos. With over 200 strings per instrument, each string required precise adjustment to specific frequencies, guided by an app named TuneLab.
As each piano was deemed ready, the tuners moved tirelessly to the next, a relentless cycle until all 50 instruments were perfectly prepared. This monumental task was in anticipation of the North American premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’s extraordinary work, ‘11,000 Strings,’ scheduled to run at the Armory through October 7.
Haas’s vision dictated that the instruments be arranged in an expansive circular formation, encompassing roughly 1,300 spectator seats. The 25 musicians of the renowned Klangforum Wien ensemble are strategically positioned, one in front of every other piano. Even on Saturday, with the meticulous layout in place, the pianos were still undergoing preparation. Sisi Ye, Hailun’s artistic director, revealed that the complete tuning process for ‘11,000 Strings’ is an extensive 20-hour endeavor.
While tuning 50 pianos is a feat in itself, this particular composition presents a unique challenge: no two instruments are meant to sound identical.
The subtle distinctions between each piano, meticulously detailed in a complex spreadsheet of frequencies, are microtonal. Although individually imperceptible, the cumulative effect of these minute differences is immediately striking. Haas’s grand score promises listeners an experience of sounds that are both unexpectedly strange and profoundly awe-inspiring.
Indeed, the literal count of strings exceeds 11,000, nearing 11,400 when considering both the pianos and the Klangforum Wien instruments. However, Haas emphasized that the title’s true purpose is to convey the immense complexity and richness of the soundscape, rather than a precise tally.
While ‘complex’ is an understatement, the very concept of ‘11,000 Strings’ borders on the audacious. It demands not only immense physical space and meticulous preparation but also the extraordinary resources to gather fifty grand pianos. Yet, despite its sensational requirements, the creation of this work unfolded with surprising ease.
The genesis of the piece traces back to Peter Paul Kainrath, Klangforum Wien’s artistic director and chief executive. During a visit to the Hailun factory in China, he encountered a remarkable sight: a room filled with 100 pianos, played in unison by machines for 24 hours as a rigorous quality control test before shipping. This experience sparked the initial idea.
“There was no conventional music, just a pure, overwhelming torrent of sound,” Kainrath recalled. It was this raw, colossal sound that instantly brought Georg Friedrich Haas and his profound fascination with microtonality to mind. So potent was the inspiration that Kainrath immediately called Haas from the factory floor.
Haas requested two weeks to deliberate, but his mind raced with ideas, leading him to call Kainrath the very next morning. Sleep had eluded him, he explained, due to the sheer volume of inspiration. His proposition was clear: if Kainrath could procure 50 pianos, he would compose the piece.
The number fifty isn’t arbitrary; it’s fundamental to the composition. While Western music typically employs the 12-tone equal temperament system, where octaves consist of 12 semitones, each measured in 100 cents, Haas’s work deviates. Here, each piano is precisely tuned two cents higher than the one before it – the most minuscule difference a human ear can detect. This cumulative progression means that across all instruments, the total tuning span ultimately covers exactly one semitone.
A maestro of microtonality, Haas had an intuitive grasp of how ‘11,000 Strings’ would resonate. He composed the entire work in isolation during the pandemic, finding himself and his wife and collaborator, Mollena Williams-Haas, in what he termed ‘a comfortable trap’ in Morocco. The act of creation became a beacon of hope, a project to anticipate the return of large-scale performances.
Given the monumental scale and specific arrangement of the work, Haas recognized that a composition relying on strict collective precision, like the ‘Radetzky March,’ wouldn’t suffice. Instead, he crafted a fluid, ‘fuzzy’ rhythmic structure designed to embrace the inherent impossibility of perfect synchronization among so many performers. With no conductor and pianists facing away from the audience, both they and the Klangforum Wien members rely on digital scores that automatically advance, ensuring their individual timing within the grand, evolving sound.
The world premiere of ‘11,000 Strings’ took place in Bolzano, Italy, in 2023, featuring pianists sourced from local music schools and the Mahler Academy Orchestra. Kainrath described his emotional reaction upon hearing it as akin to the marvel of experiencing flight for the very first time, bringing him to the brink of tears.
Remarkably, for a contemporary piece of such immense scale, ‘11,000 Strings’ has already embarked on an extensive tour with Klangforum Wien, enchanting audiences in Vienna, various European festivals, and now, New York. Each stop on the tour incorporates pianists from local communities, with the Armory production featuring a blend of conservatory students and seasoned professionals.
Transporting fifty pianos to the United States proved to be a formidable undertaking. Kainrath diplomatically noted the ‘very particular times’ they faced, referencing unpredictable and costly shipping tariffs that were frequently revised. Determined to elevate Klangforum Wien’s presence in New York and unwilling to cancel, Kainrath ultimately embraced the Armory run as ‘more of an investment than a balanced business venture.’
Upon their arrival last weekend, the ensemble convened in the drill hall on Monday morning for rehearsals. They began by playing through the entire piece, pausing only when a natural break occurred. The composition commences with a delicate, almost serene tone, as the Klangforum Wien musicians artfully weave a stereophonic C-major chord.
The pianos make their entrance with a gentle rumble beneath the chord, so subtle that listeners might not immediately grasp its presence until the sound swells to an immense, captivating force. This is just one example of how Haas’s score playfully engages the listener’s ear. Throughout the 66-minute performance, the intricate spatial and musical effects weave a tapestry that creates a delightful, tingling sensation, continually intriguing the audience.
Experiencing ‘11,000 Strings’ is like stepping into a bustling sonic hive or being playfully pursued by an unseen, elusive entity, with sounds enveloping you from every direction in constant flux. Though entirely acoustic, the piece remarkably evokes the ethereal, multi-channel electronic soundscapes often associated with Karlheinz Stockhausen, all achieved through the most traditional of instruments.
On Monday, Haas traversed the drill hall with a palpable blend of enthusiasm and intense focus. During breaks, he offered specific instructions, such as ‘Please take care that major thirds are not too consonant,’ but his overarching desire was for the musicians to embrace and savor the unique experience as deeply as he clearly did.
“Please enjoy your pitches,” Haas simply instructed, “Enjoy everything.”