At the end of 1969, Karlheinz Stockhausen received the commission from Heinrich Strobel, the then music director of Südwestfunk, to write a new work for two pianos for the 1970 Donaueschinger Musiktage. Stockhausen had previously told Strobel about a vision he had during a flight to Los Angeles. When entering the stage, the two pianists were supposed to demonstrate pianistic playing movements in the air, which would then become sound when they reached the instrument. On the occasion of Expo '70, Stockhausen traveled to Osaka in March 1970 to present his music in the German Pavilion, which he helped design. The »VISION for 2 pianos«, as the work was originally supposed to be called, became here MANTRA for 2 pianists, and the visual idea was abandoned in favor of an electronic extension. The visible non-sound of the »VISION« thus became an actually invisible electronic sound extension, which could at least be guessed at by the positioning of the electronic devices by the pianists.
Now the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo has re-recorded the work with the sound direction of Michael Acker from the SWR Experimental Studio. Andreas Grau, Götz Schumacher and Michael Acker have had a long-standing friendship through numerous performances, including the present work MANTRA.