There has been an historical tie between music and astronomy, ever since the publication of Kepler's astronomical - astrological - musical theories in his Music of the Spheres.

According to the research discussed in this article, detailing studies by three professors of the mathematical relationships in music, "the so-called musica universalis or 'music of the spheres' emerged in the Middle Ages as the philosophical idea that the proportions in the movements of the celestial bodies -- the sun, moon and planets -- could be viewed as a form of music, inaudible but perfectly harmonious." It is possible, in our opinion, that in some discernible way the underlying structural component of art music may 'tap in' to the same cognitive pleasure-centers that are exercised when one enjoys looking at the complexities of star fields and deep-sky objects through a telescope. Certainly, many stargazers enjoy background music while observing: the present article thus offers suggestions for certain relevant pieces.

Kepler's famous work on the "Music of the Spheres" was the inspiration for the well-known concert series founded by William J. "Shiloh" Unruh, then on the support staff of Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton in the mid-1980s. My wife, the classical harpsichordist Regina Roper, was for many years a co-organizer of this "hot ticket" in the Santa Clara valley. Each summer season, hundreds of amateur astronomers and their families have enjoyed classical music (now expanded to include folk and light jazz) in the dome of the historic Alvan Clark 36" refractor. I had the privilege of hosting the concerts in 1989, which were broadcast on KKHI in San Francisco during my tenure as engineering manager. (See this page on Regina's website for information, pictures, and sound samples of her Lick "Music of the Spheres" concerts.)

As a former radio station program director of 5 classical stations, including KDFC in San Francisco, KBOQ in Monterey, and others now sadly now long gone from the airwaves, I have taken pleasure for 25 years in presenting the kind of music that entertains and inspires me to contemplative thought as I gaze through my own telescopes. Occasionally I am surprised when attending star parties to discover that other observers seem to like the classics, too (the percentage in the general public is now believed to be less than 5%! Well below a fraction of 1% of broadcasting media feature the classics.) Those of us who love this type of refined, beautiful, spiritual, and elegant music find it to be the perfect sonic counterpart to views of the galaxies and nebulae of the deep sky.

The holidays have arrived, and we're all bored with opening our Christmas stockings and finding yet ANOTHER Nagler™...here are some suggestions for fresh gift ideas that may expand your aural horizons as you gaze at celestial sights through your telescope. If you have not yet tried listening to the classics while you view, you may be in for a real treat! The listings below are music that we especially enjoy, among thousands of other classical selections that can enhance observing. Please note that we do not benefit in any way from your use of any of the links presented below; they are merely informational, and other sources might be found, especially if you have access to a good local dealer.

STARPARTY MUSICAL ETIQUETTE

But playing music that other observers don't enjoy is levying the same kind of torture on them that the sophisticated Edwin Hubble suffered when, caught during an all-night exposure on the 100" telescope, he was forced to submit to the practical joke of a night assistant, who turned the radio to an all-night fire-and-brimstone preaching and gospel singing program (recounted in Gale Christianson's biography of EPH.)

So I recommend using a portable player with headphones as the ideal and considerate way to enjoy my music, unless I am observing with one or two friends who share my exact tastes. I personally use a CD machine, but other friends of mine have become devotees of mp3 players, which have great benefits for astronomy since their battery life is superior, and they are much less intrusive, carrying lots of music without the need to tote along CDs. Of course, if you have lots of CDs already -- as we do -- you need not take the trouble to convert files to mp3 format and transfer them to your portable player, which is more convenient if you don't wish to listen to the same performance over and over: just pick up a stack of disks, and you're ready to go. But, if you have no desire for "hard copies", many commercial services offer licensed downloads, enabling you to get exactly the pieces desired, sans the couplings of the original albums (which may often be loudly dramatic works not necessarily suited to astronomical observing.) Use my suggestions as a point of departure to look for individual works at your preferred commercial download sources.

If I am alone, and am observing in an area where music won't bother anybody, then I'll play my music over a small boombox system. Because digital recordings have a wide dynamic range (volume variation between softest and loudest sounds) I tend to prefer to listen to OLD performances recorded in the analogue period, from the 1950s back to as early as the late 1920s: see this blog post of mine for some examples of things I listened to at a few observing sessions. But when I wear headphones, the softest musical tones are audible without cranking up the volume too high. However, generally I find headphone listening far too instrusive on my concentration while observing through the telescope; I prefer to have music playing softly from a small nearby speaker system.

The records I suggest below used to be available in the media dealers of most fairly large cities, but now are likely to be available only online with any reliability. I have heavily emphasized budget editions where their sound and performance are competitive.

I am a classical music enthusiast, and have little background or knowledge of the fields of New Age, jazz, or other styles that include interesting sounds that are also enjoyed by astronomical observers. I would request that specialists in these styles provide us with their own lists of favorites. Nonclassicists may prefer to start with the choral, guitar, and film/TV music albums I have listed below. (A NOT TOO SERIOUS NOTE: visual observations of the "Horsehead" nebula will probably require all your concentration; music may not be helpful!)

CLASSICS WITH A CELESTIAL TOUCH

Of course, the best-known is the work of 20th-century British composer Gustav HOLST. His orchestral suite THE PLANETS (written only a decade or so before the discovery of Pluto) is a set of musical portraits of the then- known major planets of the Solar system, excluding Terra. The character of each mood picture is based on the ancient mythological or astrological themes associated with each planet: for example, Mars is war-like, aggressive, brutal; Jupiter is massive, hearty, and expansive; Saturn is mysterious and strange.

I have not found this piece to be an especially satisfying accompaniment to stargazing, primarily because of the wild mood swings, incredibly loud orchestral climaxes, and pretentious passages. Kyle Bartlett and Douglas Boyce have produced this interesting webpage, with a MIDI rendering of "Mars", to show the aggressive character of that excerpt -- but the music sounds infinitely more satisfactory as played by a full orchestra. For observing, though, I prefer the 'gentler' planets like Neptune, the capricies of Mercury, and the mysteries of Saturn and Uranus.

A wonderful performance used to be available almost everywhere on the inexpensive label LASERLIGHT, by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Simon. At a terrific bargain of only $4-$6, it is of a technical and interpretative quality that more than rivals the big-time performances of Karajan, Previn, or Levine. I haven't seen many copies of disks on this label in recent years. Just as satisfying (and in perhaps even more sumptuous sound) is the version by Vernon Handley and the Royal Philharmonic, a budget release on the Intersound label. There are superb interpretations on the major midprice and full price labels, including performances by Sir Adrian Boult (especially his next to last version, recorded in 1966, which is often preferred by connoisseurs though now it's a bit hard to find), Herbert von Karajan, and Charles Dutoit. A somewhat unusual performance, at midprice range, is the classic Lp-era version by William Steinberg and the Boston Symphony: a bit lighter in touch, it has the unique radiance of that orchestra's golden sound registered in splendid clarity. And as a devotee of very old recordings, I particularly love the great interpretation of Leopold Stokowski, preserved in surprisingly good sound from a 1940s broadcast by the NBC Symphony as released by Cala (the narrower dynamic range is easier on the ears late at night, while observing.)

One of the very few works I know that is directly evocative of the night sky is the obscure short tone-poem "Stars" by the American composer Mary Howe (1882 - 1964). I first became aware of this charming and evocative piece, written in 1927, in an historic 78 rpm disk that I initially encountered around 1962. The work is short -- only 3'30" in duration -- and could fit nicely on one side of one of those old 12 inch shellac disks, as recorded in 1941 by the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D. C., under the direction of Hans Kindler (a now-forgotten musician who was very highly regarded during the generation before I was born.) The old disk was lovingly restored in a CD that was produced and engineered by my friend Mark Obert-Thorn, and was reissued in 1999 on the British label Biddulph (WHL-063), now being almost impossible to find, but worth getting. The program annotator Edward Johnson writes, "in the composer's words [Stars] is 'a miniature tone poem inspired by the gradually overwhelming effect of the dome of a starry night -- its peace, beauty and space.' The American Record Guide of October 1944 found [it] a 'surprisingly impressive and atmospheric work considering its brevity and atmospheric economy...a telling performance, backed up by rich recording.'" Of course, by today's digital stereo standards, the monaural sound is dim; but the lovely instrumental details are still quite palpable. Leopold Stokowski seems -- as suggested by the Wikipedia bio of Howe -- to have said that the composition expresses a “sense of mystery [where] man compares his insignificance with infinity”: but, to my ears the piece is rather slight and emotionally slender, scarcely the stuff of awe and majesty. Still, it's nice to know about it, and to hear it once in a while.

A full review of the CD is found here, and I have even located a modern recording by the Virginia Symphony that I haven't heard, conducted by JoAnn Falletta: cited among other issues on this webpage. The "remaindering" outfit Berkshire Music Outlet seems, as of this writing in spring 2008, to have some copies left of Biddulph WHL-063, for $5.99 plus shipping: use their search engine and look up "Biddulph", "WHL-063" and "Hans Kindler" to find the ordering link.

Moon Mood Music

Personally, however, I'm a bit tired of the Moonlight Sonata. If I have to hear music inspired by the Moon, I prefer listening to the haunting aria from Antonin DVORAK's opera "Rusalka" named "Song To the Moon". It has been included in many compilations of beautiful soprano arias, and may be sampled by following some of these online links. In my library I have, in addition to the complete opera, recordings of this bewitching piece by Leontyne Price and Frederica von Stade.

Claude DEBUSSY probably wrote the second most famous piano piece evoking the Moon: Clair de lune. It is one movement from his "Suite Bergamasque", which my wife, concert pianist Regina Roper, has performed many times in public. One of my most unforgettable experiences of this work was the occasion when I turned pages for her as she played it on our Roland digital piano in the dome of the 36" Clark Telescope at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton. You will find innumerable recordings of this masterwork on the Net, as it is in the public domain. My own favorite recording is the classic version by pianist Walter Gieseking, but it is in old and rather dim mono sound. Modern stereo recordings of the complete suite include a reissue of a formerly full priced version by pianist Alexis Weissenberg that I enjoy very much (it's online at Amazon but seems to be rather hard to find at present); and Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra have recorded the luscious Lucien Caillet orchestral transcription for CBS/Sony (available in a number of CD releases, such as this one.) And the old orchestral wizard, Leopold Stokowski, has recorded a wonderful stereo version of his own full instrumental transcription, available on a Cala CD (the best price I could find seems to be here.) The album also includes another "nachtstück": the conductor's arrangement of Debussy's NIGHT IN GRENADA.

Not directly related to the Moon, but in exactly the same evocative spirit, is Czech composer Leos Janacek's piano suite "In the Mist", one of my undying favorites. I have enjoyed this lovely work for forty years, and once encouraged my wife to buy the sheet music and work it up; but on the page, it looks bizarre, and almost unintelligibly complicated: the essence of the piece is found in the sound and its ineffable mystery. This web search link includes at least one video clip if you'd care to sample the score. Wonderful recordings of the music have been made by Lamar Crowson, Rudolf Firkusny, and Leif Ove Andsnes (as may be found on this webpage of links.)

In painting, a nocturne is a "depiction of a night scene"; in music, it's a dreamy, pensive work -- especially symbolized by the Frederick CHOPIN NOCTURNES. A fine compilation by Daniel Barenboim is available for less than $15 in a double CD set on DGG; I was amazed to discover that the more celebrated stereo recordings by Artur Rubinstein are actually sold at discount by the world's emporium of cut-rate stuff, from tennis shoes to tires: Wal-Mart!

Other "night pieces" that I enjoy while viewing are: eponymous works by Foote and Kennan, played by flutist Alexa Still; "Music for Quiet Listening" conducted by Howard Hanson on Mercury; and the lovely "Nocturne" by Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, paired with his more familiar "Andante Cantabile", as played by cellist Rafael Wallfisch on Chandos. An even more famous Nocturne is the arrangement for orchestra of a movement from Alexander BORODIN's Second String Quartet, which used to be a staple of the phonograph record catalog; it's now rather hard to find a modern performance. The Ormandy and Slatkin recordings are two of the few on CD, though you might want to search for a now-deleted album on Capitol-EMI by Stokowski called "Music for Strings". To hear it in the original scoring, try this edition by the Haydn Quartet on Naxos. Finally, my own favorite orchestral Nocturne is an unforgettably lovely work by DVORAK, available with some other introspective pieces on this issue by the Russian Philharmonic under Yablonsky.

Another work with celestial overtones is the far more obscure "UNIVERSE - Mysterium" by the late-19th century Russian composer SCRIABIN. This mystical and intellectual man was certainly one of the strangest figures in the musical world. Toward the end of his life, he conceived musical works of grandiose proportions, bursting forth over the entirety of humanity in his imagination in an attempt to unit all spirits in a kind of cosmically universal fellowship (a few chuckles here are permitted.) His unfinished UNIVERSE, a tone poem that really could never have been completed, has been edited by the musicologist Nemtin into a playable form; it has been described as having "quivering ecstasy and passionate sweetness...passages sound like the sunbursts and solar winds, intergalactic explosions of cosmic stars, comets nova[e], and supernova[e]..." An old Soviet-era stereo recording was released via CD on the Russian Disc label by the Moscow Philharmonic under Kondrashin (but it is likely to be very pricey, as now it's a rare item available from few sources.) This may be appealing to those listeners whose musical horizons are very broad, and who have been opened up to a wider range of expression than is typically provided by the standard classics.

An interesting recording of the music composed by the great astronomer William HERSCHEL himself is available on CD on the rather obscure label Newport, though I personally find that the tinkling jitteriness of much baroque-era music is too stress-inducing for stargazing...others will be pleased by the elegance of its period-charm.

When I first posted this article to the newsgroup sci.astro.amateur, somebody replied, "Hey: you forgot Mozart's Jupiter Symphony!" But, I did not forget: the nickname "Jupiter", which was given to the work many decades after Mozart died, has nothing to do with the mighty planet of our Solar system, but rather invokes the Greek gods and the grand Jovian character of this classical masterpiece. But, who am I to discourage listening to a little Mozart? Carry on!

FILM AND TELEVISION SOURCES

There is a complete webpage put together about the musical scores used in this series, available here. Amazon has a page for the CD issue containing the actual original source material sound clips.

The science-fiction film genre has long supplied us with a reliable source of mood-music that incorporates otherworldly effects, strange mystical sounds, and sweeping gestures that range from the terrifying to the soothing. The great American composer Bernard HERRMANN was the absolute master of this form; his cherished scores to such classics as "Fahrenheit 451", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" have been brilliantly re-recorded in stereo under his own direction in a budget-priced London Phase 4 CD (and many other Herrmann scores are also on disk, all sharing his taste in strange sounds and thought-provoking moods.) Unfortunately, though this was a cheap budget CD when first released in the late 1990s, it is now incredibly expensive. You might look for a used copy, or some other alternative source.

The ubiquitous Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops have made many Telarc albums that include science-fiction film music, but none is as good as the amazing recording "Journey to the Stars" by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under John Mauceri (Philips CD.) Here we have a lovingly-recreated score in stupendous sonics from the shattering "THINGS TO COME" by H. G. Wells, with music by a leading 20th-century British composer, Sir Arthus BLISS. Anyone who has enjoyed this scratchy old film, suspecting that the noisy 1935 soundtrack concealed some beautiful and powerful music, will be fully satisfied here: the philosophical theme of humankind's striving for renewal and exploration has seldom been expressed in music with greater nobility. Scores by Waxman, Herrmann, Corigliano, Williams, and Elfman are also given the Technicolor treatment. Mauceri's orchestra plays as though inspired by the grandiose palette of the other-worldly subjects.

British composer Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS created a beautiful film score for a "docu-drama" about the polar explorer Scott for the 1948 cinema classic SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC. A reconstruction of the film's original score has been produced in stunning sound on the Chandos label, but as good as it is, I think I prefer hearing the composer's later revision as a symphony, compiled from the best parts of the music -- his "Sinfonia Antartica" -- with much of the eeriness of Herrmann. It is particularly well-served on the EMI CD by Haitink (now available in a boxed set of RVW works), but I am also quite satisfied by the budget performance on Naxos by Kees Bakels and the Bournemouth Symphony. Especially impressive are the grand moments portraying the massive stillness of "Ye icefalls" and the playful sporting of the whales.

In 1968 the landmark sci-fi film "2001, A Space Odyssey" popularized many pieces of classical and modern music, from Johann Strauss to György Ligeti. I personally don't find the hodge-podge of excerpts in the original soundtrack at all inducive to relaxed, contemplative astronomical observing, but I can suggest that the entirety of the 33-minute Richard STRAUSS tone poem ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (whose imposing opening section is used in the film) will fit the late night hours (if you can tolerate the bombast of the loud passages.) The Herbert von Karajan recording made by Decca in the sixties was used in the film, but most major artists' versions of this work are entirely satisfactory (see this directed Google search for options.) A wonderful bargain is the sumptuous performance by Ormandy and the Philadelphians, coupled with some Strauss performances by Andre Previn, on an inexpensive EMI disk; superb budget or mid-priced alternatives include those by conductors Fritz Reiner, or Zubin Mehta (in a boxed set of 6 disks with other superb works of Strauss that you are likely to enjoy.)

TRADITIONAL CLASSICS FOR ORCHESTRA

The French impressionist composers Clause DEBUSSY and Maurice RAVEL are masters of the contemplative mood- painting, and their music seems custom-made for celestial observing. Debussy's beautiful NOCTURNES for wordless female chorus and orchestra are evocative and spiritual (and I find it hard to single out one specific recommendation from the multitudes of great performances, though for decades my favorite version was the early stereo recording from 1955 by Pierre Monteux, now almost impossible to find on CD.)

Ravel's ballet DAPHNIS AND CHLOE offers nearly an hour of hushed mystery and bewitching sonorities. You really need not worry too much about finding an excellent performance of these works as the numbers abound in world record catalogues. I especially like the version by Boulez and the New York Philharmonic on Sony (which is now hard to find) but the performance by Munch is equally stunning (if your portable machine can negotiate a disk made in the SACD format.)

Richard WAGNER, the German romanticist who wrote core operas of the world repertoire, had two sides to his personality: one was bombastic and grand; the other gentle and introverted. The latter aspect of Wagner is especially mood-enhancing for astronomy. I recommend his lullaby SIEGFRIED IDYLL (which definitely won't put you to sleep!), and orchestral music from the operas PARSIFAL and TRISTAN UND ISOLDE. Workmanlike performances of these are available in a budget Naxos disk conducted by Wildner; but the dedicated Wagnerian will no doubt prefer the superior renderings of Otto Klemperer (along with some of the composer's pulse-raising excerpts) in a 2-CD EMI set.

The gargantuan imagination of the ultra-romantic Austrian composer Gustav MAHLER is seldom expressed with more intensity than in his huge SYMPHONY NO. 7, which used to be known in the subtitle "Song of the Night." That is indeed descriptive, and many an observing session of this author has been accompanied by the eery insinuations of this hour-and-a-half piece. A superior performance by Haenchen and the Netherlands Philharmonic used to be available for the mere pittance of $4 to $6 on a LASERLIGHT double-CD album here in the United States. Now, it's hard to find, and at the high import price found on Amazon, it's no longer competitive. So, my choice for a budget version would be the incredible bargain on Vanguard with the Utah Symphony under Maurice Abravanel in both Symphonies 7 and 8, for a mere $12.95. Why some people seem to think that the outrageously costly performance by the San Francisco Symphony under Tilson Thomas is worth $23 or more is a mystery to me; I think Abravanel or Haenchen, among many other conductors, get into the heart of the music with more effect and emotion. Abravanel's version has the benefit of being contained on one disk. There is a decent alternative single-CD version on Naxos by Michael Halasz.

Anyone who has read the touching book "Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony" by Lewis Thomas (a scientifically minded physician) will appreciate the even more emotional canvas of Mahler's next to last symphony. Again, Bruno Walter provides a deeply powerful rendering (even his old live 1938 performance is commendable, especially as restored to near modern high fidelity sound by Steve Worth of VIP Productions; but of course most people would prefer Walter's stereo version on Sony mid-price.) You may save even more money by getting Sir John Barbirolli's famous Berlin Philharmonic version, on one EMI CD.

Mahler's mentor and teacher, the Austrian mystic and genius Anton BRUCKNER, developed large-scale musical essays inspired by the orchestral style of Wagner. The SYMPHONY NO. 7 by Bruckner is a deeply-felt romantic outpouring of mood and spirituality expressed in an almost static timescale: the perfect accompaniment to prolonged deep-sky gazes. The Bruno Walter recording on Sony/CBS, or the DG recording by Carlo Maria Giulini, have -- in my opinion -- more emotion than many other versions of this oft-recorded work. If you have seen the interesting television bio-pic "The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner" (written and directed by Ken Russell), you'll recall the amazing image of Bruckner reclining, surrounded by a brilliantly blazing firmament of stars that seem to spring from his profound imagination!

Despite my fondness for the Walter performance, I should add that the enthusiasts of Bruckner include many cognoscenti who would disagree, preferring the old recordings of Furtwängler, Böhm, Klemperer, or certain other maestros: you are on dangerous territory when you start advocating your point of view about this topic!

Another late romantic was the Italian composer Ferrucio BUSONI, who was interested in the philosophical concepts of the ancient Egyptians. His 'world's longest piano concerto', the Concerto, op. 39, also includes a male chorus in addition to a gargantuan orchestra. One is guaranteed a 73 minute ride through mysterious and uncharted territory. One of the most sumptuous performances is the modern recording by Marc-Andre Hamelin; but the older one dating from the sixties, by John Ogdon, is my favorite -- if you can find it.

The English romantic composers of the early part of this century luxuriated in their own brand of musical sensuality. Their master was Frederick DELIUS...his evocative tone paintings are gentle and wistful, and have been exquisitely interpreted by Beecham (compiled to one disk from an earlier EMI double set) and Barbirolli on EMI; but also available in many other creditable performances.

I also find that Igor STRAVINSKY's ballets ORPHEUS and APOLLO are especially suited as background music for observing; a good budget edition by Robert Craft is available on Naxos. And don't forget the symphonies of Finnish composer Jean SIBELIUS, whose moody, introverted, and cerebral music is a great boon to my own enjoyment of late night stargazing. The SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 & 5 are especially apropos: while not being one of the versions most favored by critics, the Naxos CD by Petri Sakari and the Icelandic Symphony is a quite effective introduction to the music. You may also wish to invest in the complete 7 symphonies, particularly as played by Von Karajan or Kurt Sanderling, two budget versions that are highly respected.

CHAMBER MUSIC

BEETHOVEN's cerebrial late quartets are a never-ending source of inspiration to the world's greatest thinkers. (There probably is no single "best" version, but you can't fault the classic performances by the Emerson Quartet.) Beethoven's teacher Joseph HAYDN's spiritual work for string quartet (also available in versions for orchestra and chorus) called THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST provide a gentle back- drop to night thoughts (available on a fine budget rendition on Naxos CD.)

Sibelius, mentioned above, created relatively few chamber pieces, but his INTIMATE VOICES string quartet is one that seems to me to have an almost uniquely nocturnal character, the absolute inverse of his grandly rhetorical tone poem "Finlandia" -- which is NOT very suited for astronomy! A fairly recent DG issue by the Emerson Quartet is coupled with other fine chamber pieces by Grieg and Nielsen. If you enjoy this kind of music, be sure to followup with the exquisite and ethereal CLARINET QUINTETS written in 1891 by Johannes BRAHMS and 1784 by MOZART. For my money, Gervase de Peyer is the ranking artist, admirably partnered by the strings of the Melos Ensemble.

The master of all, Johann Sebastian BACH, has graced us with an unquenchable source of pleasures. His GOLDBERG VARIATIONS (written to alleviate the insomnia of a royal patron) are played in two divergent interpretations by the young and more mature pianist GLENN GOULD on CBS/SONY classics (I prefer his earlier 1955 debut version to the later digital recording); a rare and charming interpretation by Joel Speigelman on the Kurzweil digital synthesizer is suggested to musical enthusiasts who are more attuned to the modern styles of rock or New Age (East-West/Atlantic cd from 1995: now rather hard to find. Try this search page.)

My own all-time favorite Bach work for listening at the telescope, however, is the MUSICAL OFFERING, an hour-minute tapestry consisting of a set of complex variations on a grave and somber theme given to Bach as a musical challenge by King Frederick the Great. My personal choice as the most memorable recording is Yehudi Mehuhin's eloquent version (in an EMI boxed set, with many other works by the same composer -- though most won't necessarily be 'quiet' enough for astronomy!) but the probably the best buy would be the version by an outstanding European chamber orchestra called the Capella Istropolitana.

Finally, if you are not put off by mono recordings: conductor Leopold Stokowski (formerly an organist) made lush arrangements of the music of J. S. Bach, and recorded many with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the late 1930s, including a large variety of some exceptionally profound and introverted pieces, the polar opposite of his famous edition of the "Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor", well known from the soundtrack of "Fantasia". These performances are incredibly moving, and were taken down in near high fidelity sound that has to be heard to be believed! My friend, historic record producer Mark Obert-Thorn, has lovingly restored perfect copies of the originals in a very obscure and hard to find double-CD set on the British label Pearl. This set is, for me, the ideal accompaniment to telescopic viewing. It's costly, and hard to locate: I've found ony one link on the Net. If you love Bach, buy it!

REGINA'S SUGGESTIONS

The piano music repertoire is a specialty of my wife, musician and teacher Regina Roper. At star-parties she reports special enjoyment of Enrique GRANADOS' evocative suite GOYESCAS as played by its leading exponent, Alicia de Larrocha, available on a least 3 different CD labels! The digitally mastered version on London/Decca has more sumptuous sound; the earlier analogue recording on EMI has more bite. And Regina loves to play herself, and to listen to, the Beethoven piano sonatas, suggesting the contemplative No. 27 and No. 28 (done by Jeno Jando on Naxos) or the hair-raising "Hammerklavier" Sonata, Op. 106.

Erik SATIE's cryptic piano works feature the unusually romantic GYMNOPEDIES, played by today's ranking specialist Aldo Ciccolini on a splendid budget collection on EMI CDs. Regina also enjoys the elegant and comforting lute music of J. S. Bach in both original and guitar arrangements: she enjoys playing an old, obscure budget disk of excerpts by Simon Wynberg on Stradivari Classics that you aren't too likely to find. But recently she and I have been bowled over by the performances available free as mp3 downloads on the website of amateur guitarist Jon Sayles, whose renderings of renaissance and baroque music are masterful; he also plays many other selections all delightfully well -- and with beautiful recording quality.

The Armenian-American composer Alan HOVHANESS, from the Pacific Northwest, is a popular purveyor of orchestral and chamber music tinged with his perfumed mysticism, inspired by ancient legends of Eurasia and the Orient. Start with MYSTERIOUS MOUNTAIN (his Symphony No. 2, well-served by Fritz Reiner on RCA or Gerard Schwarz on Delos) and work up to his latest works, such as "Meditation on Orpheus" or "Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints" (Delos) and "Celestial Gate" (on Telarc, played by I Fiamminghi chamber orchestra.) In fact, each and every album of Hovhaness may find its way into your astro-music collection if you enjoy the style: he is predictably satisfying. This composer is probably my wife's favorite author of late-20th century music.

Though Regina is by training a specialist in baroque music composed for harpsichord, she adores the grave and romantically moving Vaughan Williams TALLIS FANTASIA for string orchestra (composed as a set of free variations on a sombre theme by an old English church musician, Thomas Tallis.) Her favorite recording of this eloquent work is Sir John Barbirolli's EMI version, which though somewhat elderly by now is still in splendid stereo sound, and is a marvelous bargain. It is coupled with Sir Edward ELGAR's INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO, another poignant and memorable piece: you may sample it here, if you're interested, in a good live performance by the Strings of New York, who provide a free download of this fine work. This also gives me the perfect opportunity to 'plug' a comparable piece, a long-time favorite of mine from the early stereo LP era of the sixties: that master of lush sound, Leopold Stokowski, conducting American composer Thomas CANNING's FANTASY ON A HYMN TUNE, recorded in sumptous fidelity on an old Everest master, reissued by Vanguard/Omega. I've seen authentic original CD pressings of this for sale online for a huge amount of money, perhaps seven times the cost of the original. The best alternative sources at the moment seem to be a licensed CDR reissue from ArchivMusic, or a commercial download from eMusic.

CHORAL MUSIC

•  HILDEGARD VON BINGEN: Heavenly Revelations Oxford Camerata (Naxos)

•  Gregorian Chants: many recordings; see this list. I have an old one on Laserlight that is good, but there are better ones, such as the recordings by the Deller Consort and the Benedictine Monks.

•  AN ENGLISH LADYMASS: The Anonymous 4 (Harmonia Mundi).

...and especially, the ethereal:

•  ALLEGRI MISERERE: The Tallis Scholars conducted by Peter Phillips. This unforgettable composition is available on at least 2 different Tallis Scholars disks (Gimell CD label) and features the most beautiful female voice this writer has ever heard, in an arching vocal line that truly transports the listener to celestial realms.

In later choral works, the great 19th century Requiems by Gabriel FAURE (EMI - Cluytens, with de los Angeles' haunting voice) and Johannes BRAHMS (EMI by Klemperer & Philharmonia Orchestra) gently propel the spirit to higher realms while allowing one to appreciating the vast distances to the galaxies we can study with our telescopes.

CONCLUSION

STEVE WALDEE
Manager, ROPER PIANO STUDIO
Partner, WALDEE-WOOD ASTRONOMICAL SOFTWARE
REGINA ROPER
Owner & Teacher, ROPER PIANO STUDIO