This is a live performance of the second act (1978) from Karlheinz Stockhausen's opera "DONNERSTAG aus LICHT", all parts of which can be performed on their own. Entirely instrumental, "Michaels Reise" shows the protagonist Michael (Marco Blaauw, trumpet) travelling around the world in 'seven stations' and finally meeting his female counterpart Eva (Nicola Jürgensen, clarinet). The ensemble music is performed by MusikFabrik, directed by Peter Rundel.
One of the key parts of Stockhausen's massive seven-opera-cycle "LICHT", this staging of "Michaels Reise um die Erde" was made in the Philharmonic at Cologne by Carlos Padrissa in 2008 and does full justice to Stockhausen's concepts and imagination in my view. The TV version was directed by Janos Darvas in 2009.