Planet by Judith Weir will receive its German premiere on November 14 with Bielefelder Philharmoniker and Robin Davis. The work is a set of three orchestral pieces inspired by planet Earth and our galaxy, photographed from outer space.
Weir drew inspiration from photos taken during the last manned moon landing Apollo 17, by the Voyager 1 space probe, and by the Hubble Space Telescope, and translated these impressions into music. She says: „Musically, the three movements are primarily studies in texture and harmony. (1) explores a wide, almost static set of chords (2) a dark, thin atmosphere, briefly illuminated towards the end by shafts of sound (3) a dense collision of instrumental groups, eventually forming a rich harmonic mass.”
The work was commissioned by Britten Pears Arts for the 2024 Aldeburgh Festival and premiered on June 11, 2024 with the Knussen Chamber Orchestra and Ryan Wigglesworth.
For more information, please see the website of Bühnen und Orchester der Stadt Bielefeld.
