If you listen to nothing else from this playlist of music inspired by outer space, listen to Terry Riley’sSun Rings. Even though this album uses sounds from outer space and has a visual element that includes images from space – this album is grounding. There is nothing greater than than my love for 90s (with a bleed into the early 2000s) electronics and fixed media. It is delicious nostalgia bait for me.
When exploring what are admittedly arbitrary playlist themes – I always learn something wonderful. Terry Riley’s Sun Rings is a project from the NASA Art Program, a program started in 1962 by James Webb (you might have heard of the telescope named after him). This program has been incorporating artists into recording, promoting, and translating the history of American space exploration for over 50 years. Artist interpretation of science is integral to public understanding and interest into scientific endeavors. I think we all can remember the last message sent by the Opportunity Rover in 2018, “My battery is low and it is getting dark”. This is an interpretation of the last data sent by the rover. The message was filtered through the lens of a journalist – a communicator to the public.
I give this playlist a Difficult Listening Hour rating of 7/10
Please note that I am no longer paying for a Spotify subscription due to their general bad behavior towards artists and refusal to stop running recruitment ads for ICE so I no longer have control of the order of songs on Spotify. You might notice some differences between the blog (where you can find links to artists and albums) and Spotify playlists.
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Nebulae by Olga Amelkina-Vera performed by the Weimar Guitar Quartet.
Album: KA AO
At Midnight by Gloria Coates
Album: At Midnight
Mothership by Mason Bates performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Album:
Sputnik for Pianos Tuned a Quarter-Tone Apart by Jasna Veličković performed by Nada Kolundžija
Album: Breathing In, Breathing Out
Symphony No. 2, Op. 31, “Kopernikowska” (Copernican) by Henryk Górecki
Album: GÓRECKI, H.M.: Symphony No. 2, “Kopernikowska” / Beatus vir (Bela Bartók Chorus, Fricsay Symphonic, Pál)
Airs from another Planet by Judith Weir performed by the Hebrides Ensemble
Album: Airs from Another Planet: Chamber Music & Songs by Judith Weir
Album:
Music of the Spheres by Rued Langgaard performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Album:
Sun Rings by Terry Riley performed by the Kronos Quartet
Album: Sun Rings
Musica Celestis for cello and orchestra by Aaron Jay Kernis
Album: Kernis – Colored Fields/Musica Celestis/Air
Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews
Album: Pluto – The Renewer
Deep Field by Eric Whitacre performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Eric Whitacre Singers, and Virtual Choir 5
Album: Deep Field
Kepler’s Harmony of the Worlds by Laurie Spiegel
Album: The Expanding Universe