The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, launched in 1977, carry a gold-plated copper disc with a message from Earth, including music, for any potential extraterrestrial life.
Album & Artwork
The Viano Quartet's name is derived from the idea of the four individual string instruments (each starting with 'v') interacting as one, like a piano, to create a unified 'Viano' instrument.
Composition History
Alistair Coleman's 'Moonshot' is based on the Apollo 11 mission and the 'date-paintings' of its milestones by artist On Kawara.
Cultural Impact
Beethoven's Cavatina from his String Quartet No. 13 is humanity's 'final musical offering' encoded on the Voyager Golden Record, traveling through space.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Beethoven described his Cavatina as 'slow, very expressive, and sotto voce,' intending it as an intensely personal message to future musicians and listeners.
Performer Biography
The Viano Quartet is praised for 'virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention' and won First Prize at the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition.
Compositional Technique
The original ending to Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13, the Große Fuge, Op. 133, is an 18-minute-long double fugue that Stravinsky called 'the most perfect miracle in music' and 'contemporary forever.'
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