SPACE MUSIC

posted by James Reel

    The aptly named blog On an Overgrown Path has a post that begins with a note on the wonderful Renaissance-music performer David Munrow, then wanders on to a list of the music carried on the two Voyager spacecraft launched some months after Munrow’s suicide in 1976 (Munrow is on the spacefaring music discs). The selection is an aptly eclectic array of what we now call world music, plus a little bit of American rock (Chuck Berry) and several classical items:
    Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, first movement. Munich Bach Orchestra; Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
    Bach: Gavotte en rondeaux from the Partita No. 3 in E major for solo violin. Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
    Mozart: Queen of the Night aria from Die Zauberflöte. Edda Moser, soprano; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra; Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55
    Stravinsky: Sacrificial Dance from The Rite of Spring. Columbia Symphony Orchestra; Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35
    Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48
    Beethoven: first movement from Fifth Symphony. Philharmonia Orchestra; Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
    Holborne: Music from The Fairie Round. David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17
    Beethoven: Cavatina from the String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130. Budapest String Quartet. 6:37
    If the music were being selected now, some 30 years later, I wonder if we might present ourselves differently to whatever extraterrestrials could figure out how to play the disc. The pieces themselves would probably be pretty much the same, unimaginative as the assortment is. Perhaps one of the Bach items might be jettisoned in favor of something, preferably not German or Austrian for a change of pace, written between Beethoven and Stravinsky. And it would be nice if the Beethoven Cavatina were replaced by something written during the past 90 years, a bit of a Bartók quartet at the very least. Forget about anything much more recent; the people who select these things would probably argue that nothing since Bartók—who died 60 years ago—has had a chance to stand the test of time.
    Even if the playlist titles didn’t change, what about the peformers? That aspect would certainly be overhauled. Richter’s Bach would be the first thing swapped out, in favor of some period-instrument recording. (Probably by some safely staid English or German group; if you want state-of-the-art Baroque performance, listen to anything recorded during the past 10 years by one of those lively, daring French or Italian ensembles.) Grumiaux is a wonderfully elegant violinist, but again he’d probably be replaced by a period practitioner.
    The Queen of the Night aria could stand as is, although it’s not really typical Mozart. The Stravinsky is essential and logical, and even if his Columbia Symphony version isn’t the best played, it has great vitality and is composer-directed (a period-instrument performance!). Gould’s Bach would probably also hold its place, although one of Bach’s organ fugues, played by somebody else, would be more representative. Klemperer’s Beethoven is slowly beginning to lose its adherents outside of England; his Beethoven Fifth is still a model of the granitic approach to the score, but I bet something leaner and faster would find favor today. Munrow’s early-music recordings still provide much pleasure, but current musicians are even more secure with the old instruments than was Munrow’s adept crew. As for the Beethoven Quartet movement, the once ubiquitous Budapest String Quartet has somehow fallen off most music-lovers’ radar screens. I’d bet the Emerson Quartet would be chosen to represent the current pinnacle of Beethoven playing.
    What compositions and performances, I wonder, would you choose if you were programming E.T.’s iPod?