I previously created a digital performance of Beethoven’s Cavatina [1], and this time I decided to revisit it using the newly introduced Vienna MIR 3D for the reverb. The sense of three-dimensional space is quite different from what I had before, and I think the result has improved considerably.
You may or may not know this, but Cavatina was actually selected for the Golden Record carried aboard Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, both launched in 1977. The performance included on the record is by the Budapest String Quartet.
The Golden Record was created to convey something of life and culture on Earth to any unknown intelligent beings that might one day discover it. Along with sounds of nature, greetings in 55 languages, and music from many different cultures, Beethoven’s Cavatina was chosen to be part of this remarkable record.
Voyager 1 is now traveling through interstellar space, more than 170 astronomical units from Earth, at a speed of about 17 kilometers per second. And the Golden Record is still there, attached to the spacecraft, continuing its journey through space with it.
What is even more remarkable is that the record may survive in interstellar space for more than a billion years.
Perhaps one day, some unknown intelligent beings might encounter Voyager, find the record, play it, and hear Beethoven’s Cavatina for the very first time. Whether anything like that will ever actually happen, of course, no one knows. But if it did, I cannot help wondering what they would make of this beautiful music. It is a fascinating thought.
Reference:
NASA – Voyager
NASA – Voyager Golden Record
Song Title:
Title:.
String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Opus 130, 5. Cavatina”
Sound source:
Sound Library:
Solo, Chamber, and Ensemble Strings
Audio file format: mp3
For streaming on a PC, please see this page.
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For streaming on a PC, please see
this page.