''From Space I Saw Earth'' is a composition for orchestra and three conductors by the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic composer

Daníel Bjarnason Daníel Bjarnason (born 26 February 1979) is an Icelandic composer and conductor. He has garnered widespread acclaim for his debut album, ''Processions'' (2010), with TimeOut NY writing he "create(s) a sound that comes eerily close to defining ...

. The piece was commissioned by the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

, and was premiered with

Gustavo Dudamel Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera. Early life Dudamel was bor ...

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

and

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the foun ...

to celebrate the orchestra's centennial on October 24, 2019.

Background and composition

The

has performed under its last three principal conductors –

, and

– for nearly three-fifths of its history. For its Centennial Birthday Celebration Concert & Gala, the organization commissioned

to compose a piece in which all three conductors would perform with the orchestra simultaneously. (Mehta claims that a piece for three conductors was his idea.) Daníel said that ''From Space I Saw Earth'' is his third work to be inspired by the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

moon landing and the

Space Race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...

, and that the title is also in reference to the

overview effect The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visu ...

. He has described the piece as "one piece of music which is running on parallel timelines that are constantly diverting, coming together and diverting again". The orchestra is divided into three groups, with one conductor leading each. For the most part, each group is intended to work independently; each of the conductors (along with their respective groups) performs at a slightly different

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

, and an element of indeterminacy is built into the piece. However, the conductors do sometimes realign with one another at

fermata A fermata (; "from ''fermare'', to stay, or stop"; also known as a hold, pause, colloquially a birdseye or cyclops eye, or as a grand pause when placed on a note or a rest) is a symbol of musical notation indicating that the note should be pr ...

s in the music, after which one conductor cues the others to proceed. Because of this, the three groups are positioned in a triangle (two toward the back of the stage, and one at the front), so that the conductors can see one another. For the premiere, Dudamel's group, which was at the front of the stage, consisted of the orchestra's string section with one percussionist; Mehta and Salonen's groups, at the back of the stage, were each made up of a mix of woodwinds, brass, and percussion. At the end of the piece, musicians walk down the aisles playing

crotales Crotales (, ), sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly played by being struck ...

. At the premiere, this role was given to

Youth Orchestra Los Angeles Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) is the Los Angeles Philharmonic's initiative to establish youth orchestra programs in underprivileged communities throughout Los Angeles. Modeled on Venezuela's El Sistema, a program which brings classical music ...

teachers and students.

Performance and recording

''From Space I Saw Earth'' was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Dudamel, Salonen, and Mehta at their Centennial Concert on October 24, 2019. On May 8, 2020, this concert was broadcast on an episode of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

' series

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...

. A live recording of the concert was also released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

Note

References

{{reflist, 50em 2019 compositions Contemporary classical compositions Compositions for symphony orchestra Music commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Compositions by Daníel Bjarnason