playing with the planets

how do you compose a soundtrack to the solar system? for english composer gustav holst, nearly a century ago, it took  a strong foundation in astrology and a view of the planets from earth.

holst composed his well-known “planets” suite in 1915. it has been played (and accompanied by visuals of planets) multiple times since it was penned. but recently, a new view was added.  his january, the houston symphony came to carnegie hall to play gustav holst’s “planets” suite. behind them played giant, magnificent images of planets of the solar system — taken by a number of spacecrafts operated between 1989 through the present. images were selected and put together to “planets” duncan copp, creator of the film “in the shadow of the moon.”

the new york times reviewed the performance. (the review and a video excerpt of the film can be found here.) and while the reviewer, daniel j. wakin, was largely unimpressed, i think the idea of integrating images captured (initially) for the sole purpose of science into a beautiful artistic performance is marvelous. wakin’s review discusses bringing different frames onto the screen at the same time and the recreation of imagery such as martian rover landings.  he discounts these ideas: “software allows that to happen.” but i see it as the other way around: copp’s creative mind was assisted by software to make something incredible, rather than the capabilities of software gave copp the ideas.

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