Planet [HL:50607087]

“Study score for Weir's orchestral work commissioned by Britten Pears Arts for the Aldeburgh Festival 2024 where Weir was Composer in Residence.

PLANET is a set of three short orchestral pieces inspired by views of our planet, and galaxy, photographed from outer space. These are:

(1)”The blue marble“/Apollo 17

(2)”The pale blue dot“/Voyager 1

(3) Cluster NGC 6355 /Hubble Space Telescope

Musically, the three movements are primarily studies in texture and harmony. (1) explores a wide, almost- static set of chords (2) adark, thin atmosphere, briefly illuminated towards the end by shafts of sound (3) a dense collision of instrumental groups, eventually forming a rich harmonic mass. It may seem strange to have explored such a huge, cosmic subject by means of a smallish Mozart-sized orchestra. My inspiration here was a visit to the ingenious Eise Eisinga Planetarium at Franeker in the Netherlands (completed in 1781, and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.) Built in the sitting room ceiling of a modestly sized house, and operated by a clockwork-style mechanism in the loft, it accurately represents the changing positions of the earth, sun, moon and five neighbouring planets, in real time.”