CELESTIAL SPACES
for full orchestra
Work Details
3(3=picc).3.3.3(3=cbsn)–4.3.3.1–timp.perc(3)–hrp.cel–strings
Vibraphone, tubular bells, glockenspiel, bass drum, large and medium tam-tams, temple blocks, two suspended cymbals, Chinese cymbal, sizzle cymbal, crash cymbals, bongos, tom-tom, and slapstick
2006
ca. 9 minutes
Listen
Program Note
Celestial Spaces is the second in a trilogy of orchestral works concerned with the scale, mystery, and emotional force of the universe. The piece was inspired by the Hubble Deep Field, an image that reveals thousands of distant galaxies within what appears to be an almost empty region of the sky.
The music reflects on the immense distances contained within that image and on the fact that its light has traveled for billions of years before reaching us. Celestial Spaces attempts to evoke both the grandeur of the cosmos and the humility that can come from contemplating our place within it.
Celestial Spaces was written for the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and premiered in Field Concert Hall in 2006 under the direction of Yoonhaek Baek.
—SC