The Holy Liftoff

$16.99
Label
Sono Luminus
Release Date
August 14, 2026
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Terry Riley
    • PERFORMER
      Claire Chase, JACK Quartet
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      August 14, 2026
    • UPC
      053479229007
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      DSL-92290
    • LABEL
      Sono Luminus
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Contemporary Era
    Works ⌄

    1. The Holy Liftoff Chorale

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    2. Chorale March

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    3. Hymn

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    4. Chorale March 2

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    5. Lift Off Harmony

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    6. Pastorale

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    7. Parked Between Two Clouds

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    8. Chorale 2 (cameo)

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    9. Pastorale Hymn

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    10. C Major Ishi

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    11. Interlude

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    12. E-flat minor Ishi

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    13. Ishi Dream

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    14. Pastorale Hymn (Reprise)

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    15. Flying Snakes

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    16. The Realm of the Silver Balloons

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    17. The Tragedy of What We Lost

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    18. Angels in the Snooker Parlor

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    19. Horizon Streakers Rag

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    20. All Arise

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    21. Pulsing Liftors

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase

    22. Escape

      Composer: Terry Riley

      Ensemble: JACK Quartet

      Performer: Claire Chase


The Holy Liftoff (2024) is the 11th installation of Claire Chase's 24-year Density 2036 project, an initiative to create a bold new repertory for the flute by the 100th anniversary of Edgard Varèse's seminal 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5. Density 2036 has been called "one of the great musical undertakings of our time" by The New York Times, and "a quarter-century journey that has little precedent" by The New Yorker. Terry Riley began composing The Holy Liftoff in 2022 as an open score sketchbook brimming with colorful drawings that were intended to be played by Chase with any number of collaborating musicians. Over the following two years, the sketches evolved into a multidimensional work that now combines extensive through-composed material as well as graphic notation, evocative artwork, and Riley's signature open-form scoring that can be freely interpreted by the performers in variable durations and ensemble formations. Samuel Clay Birmaher's 60-minute realization of the work, which he composed in close collaboration with Riley and the performers, is scored for multiple flutes and string quartet. "When I improvised the first 16 bars of 'The Holy Liftoff' the melody and the chords whispered it's name while simultaneously urging me to make drawings of the experience. The drawings had angels and flying creatures and all the energies were rising up into a surrealistic skyscape... This piece could only have been written for Claire Chase." -Terry Riley