‘Cosmic Cycles’: An immersive fusion of NASA’s captivating space imagery, and music

Space is not all crash, boom, bang. Yes, it started its life after The Big Bang (the OG. Not the sitcom), and collisions, explosions and crashes form large part of its daily schedule, the serenity of it reflected in a quiet night sky cannot be denied. So, what if we told you that a 'space symphony has been created inspired and illustrated by NASA's latest mind-boggling images?

The world premiere outside Washington last week of "Cosmic Cycles" showcased vivid imagery compiled by the US space agency alongside the first-ever public performance of the music.

Henry Dehlinger, the symphony American composer, described the music as "almost like a total artwork".

"It's not just music, it's not just visuals -- it's not a score for a film either," the 56-year-old told AFP before the concert.

"It's more of an immersive experience that encapsulates both visuals and sound."

Not the first time

A similar attempt was made almost a century ago by Gustav Holst, an English composer. He wrote his famous ode to "The planets".

However, much of the astronomy was in theoretical stage at that time.

Much has happened since then. Humans reached the Moon, our rovers reached Mars and telescopes have become breathtakingly powerful to scan the farthest reaches of space.

The images from that research, compiled by NASA producers into seven short films, served as the inspiration for Dehlinger.

"I had to almost pinch myself and remind myself that this isn't pretend -- this is the real deal. Not science fiction, it's the actual science," he said.

Piotr Gajewski, music director and conductor of the National Philharmonic, told AFP that the idea for the project came after previous work with NASA on visuals to go with a double-billing of Claude Debussy's "La Mer" ("The Sea") and Holst's "The Planets."

For their next collaboration, 64-year-old Gajewski said he suggested to NASA "that we turn the tables on them."

"Rather than them getting a piece of music and putting pictures to it, that they start by putting short videos together... of their very, very best work."

Wade Sisler, executive producer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said the challenge was worth the effort.

"It's a journey unlike one that I have ever helped anyone take," Sisler, 64, told AFP.

The symphony

It is a seven-part piece. It begins at the heart of our solar system -- the Sun -- there are shots of its swirling and gurgling surface along with explosion of particles out to the planets.

Next two movements home-in on Earth, our own planet. It is global perspective that involves Earth photos taken by astronauts.

Apart from photos and videos, interspersed throughout the seven films are a "mesmerizing collection of data visualizations" created by NASA, Sisler explained.

Data on ocean currents, for example, "look like Van Gogh paintings when you put them in motion. The colours are beautiful, you see patterns that you never realised before."

A fourth segment on the Moon is followed by profiles of each planet -- including a focus on images of the Martian surface taken by NASA Rovers.

Jupiter, a "regal subject" according to Dehlinger, is introduced by roaring chimes and horns.

The symphony does attempt to keep itself up-to-date as it takes a detailed look at recent experiments on asteroids before a big finale of black holes, nebulae and other phenomenon in the galaxy.

In addition to two performances at venues outside Washington, NASA has released the videos to its YouTube page with a synthesized version of Dehlinger's soundtrack.


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