How many pieces of music do you know that incorporate the actual sound of the sun into the work? Amelia Chain’s composition “Solstice” uses real recordings of our sun in the work (both as the inspiration and as a musical element).
Chain was inspired to create the piece after talking to her daughter about the stars. She said:
“We learned that we could, via [NASA], . . . hear the sun’s vibrations and it was such a source of inspiration. I just wanted to develop the track around it. We set it to a particular key and it just inspired me to go on from there.”
The sound featured at the beginning of the piece is the sun’s vibrations sped up
40 thousand times (because otherwise, our human ears wouldn’t be able to hear it). Chain then builds a piano melody and orchestral accompaniment out of the sun’s music.
I honestly love how dramatic and big this work is. The orchestra and piano sweep up the listener into outer space, creating a sense of mystery and awe as the music eventually fades into the sun’s quiet sound. Nature, science, and art combine – and the results are out of this world.
Wow… I was looking for a blog on music. I am going to like it a lot.
Thank you! That means a lot.