# The 5 pieces of music that best represent humanity to you as a whole...



## Goddess Yuja Wang (Aug 8, 2017)

Hello.

In 1977 we launched the Voyager Golden Record, hoping it will be found sometime by an intelligent alien civilisation; like an introduction from us to them.
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden...sage is carried,time capsule' along with them.

Suppose we kept doing what we've been doing and we destroyed ourselves and our planet; we are in the brink of total extinction. YOU are in charge of the music part our final mission>_-->

To select 5 pieces of music (any length, single or multi-movement -but no room for more-) for a golden disk that best represents what we were as a species just before we obliterated ourselves. __These 5 pieces will be the only clue aliens would ever have about our existence. They will know about us only from this music.
_*
Your first choice (#1) could end up being the only piece included in the disc *(due to some issues with uper-management - out of your control)*, so make sure it stands on its own just in case.
*
Name your selection of 5 pieces that best represents humanity to you. They can be from any period (or style) and of any length, but only 5 pieces of music; they don't have to be in chronological order and you don't have to cover all cultures. It's entirely up to YOU. Please state your reasons for choosing them, and an example (link) to them. 
I did consider music from other cultures and times, but I couldn't think of any that would convince me to trim the Bachs, Lobos et al from my list. So sorry… no Indian ragas or Mayan music from me.

My list>
*
1.- Versa est in Luctum, Alonso Lobo* (with THIS performance; this is my selection in case only one piece of music makes it into the golden disk). WHY? Just listen to it. I think it summarises almost a thousand years of music development and achievement. I consider it the epitome of western music in terms of accomplishment, beauty, technique, sophistication and profoundness. And the lyrics fit quite well for the occasion...






2.- Concert for 2 violins in D minor OR Saint John's Passion, JS Bach (I'm torn between these two)






(the site won't let me include more than 5 vids in a single post, which matches with the rules of this test)

3.- 9th symphony, 4th movement, L. V. Beethoven






4.- Eine Alpen Sinfonie (complete), Richard Strauss






5.- Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin _(with Yuya's performance, of course)_






That's my list as of today (it would probably change often).
Is it biased? Yup. _Very_ biased, and it doesn't even include music from other times or cultures. I probably wouldn't be the right person for the job anyway.

What do you think? Looking forward to listening to your list. How humanity is known to aliens after we cease to exist is entirely up to you. 
Have fun!


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

My hymn to humanity in five pieces would be something like this:

1. Beethoven - Symphony no. 3 "Eroica" - Bernstein/NYPO (1964) - Sony
2. Mozart - The Magic Flute - Böhm, Wunderlich, Fischer-Dieskau/BPO (1964) - DG
3. Bach - St. Matthew Passion - Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent (2007) - HM
4. Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Karajan, Kollo/Staatskapelle Dresden (1970) - EMI
5. Beethoven - Symphony no. 9 "Choral" - Toscanini/NBCSO (1952) - Sony


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Have already proposed this. Beethoven, String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127.


----------



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

1. Beethoven String Quartet no. 15 (emotional contrasts, spirituality)
2. Schubert String Quintet (wide emotional range)
3. Mahler Symphony no. 6 (marches, beautiful respite of a slow movement, tragedy at the end)
4. Beethoven Symphony no. 5 (propulsion, darkness to light)
5. Schubert Trout Quintet (uncomplicated joy)


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

ORigel said:


> 1. Beethoven String Quartet no. 15 (emotional contrasts, spirituality)
> 2. Schubert String Quintet (wide emotional range)
> 3. Mahler Symphony no. 6 (marches, beautiful respite of a slow movement, tragedy at the end)
> 4. Beethoven Symphony no. 5 (propulsion, darkness to light)
> 5. Schubert Trout Quintet (uncomplicated joy)


Not a bad list, but I chose the work I did because we have no idea whether or not any aliens out there will have our emotional capacities -- to sense or experience pathos, joy, tragedy, triumph, etc. I picked a work that could work as emotionally neutral but is still extraordinarily clever in terms of form, pattern recognition, harmonic event, etc. And just four voices is less confusing.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

This being a classical music forum it is perhaps not surprising that all the choices so far have been classical.

But it's not (gasp!) the only music out there.

1. J.S. Bach - some chorale preludes for organ (the choice of which is almost irrelevant)
2. Leo Kottke - 6 & 12-string guitar (the "armadillo album")
3. David Sylvian - Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities
4. Wu Zuqiang - Little Sisters of the Grassland (吴祖强 草原小姐妹)
5. Melissa Pons - Wolf Soundscapes


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Goddess Yuja Wang said:


> Please state your reasons for choosing them


Oops, I overlooked that request.

1. Bach is mathematics made audible, so any alien species (with ears) ought to recognize the beauty

2. Out of many possible choices to show what humans could do with contrived mechanical contraptions, this one stands out for me as the quintessential demonstration of unalloyed genius

3. Over the millennia mankind has produced many different kinds of culture, many unique manifestations of our creativity beyond mating calls and territorial displays. This one merges more of them than any other I know of

4. China's cultural history precedes European by 4 millennia or more, so not including at least one would be cultural blinkerism on an unthinkable scale

5. Similarly, what provincial nativism assumes ours is the only species worth documenting?


----------



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I'd just tag team Brahms and Sibelius to compose the list. Not sure what pieces.


----------



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

This pretty much sums up humanity:


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Ethereality said:


> I'd just tag team Brahms and Sibelius to compose the list. Not sure what pieces.


That would explain why we died out.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Louis Armstrong - On the Sunny Side of the Street 
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (four parts)


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

There's nothing that represents "humanity as a whole" to me, because there's not a work that can sum it up or encapsulate it in some way.


----------



## Goddess Yuja Wang (Aug 8, 2017)

NoCoPilot said:


> This being a classical music forum it is perhaps not surprising that all the choices so far have been classical.
> 
> But it's not (gasp!) the only music out there.
> 
> ...


From your list, I only know #1. If you like the others that much, I'll make sure to check them out. Thanks!



Neo Romanza said:


> There's nothing that represents "humanity as a whole" to me, because there's not a work that can sum it up or encapsulate it in some way.


Completely agreed. 
However, almost any music would be better than an empty Golden Disk and a forgotten humanity with no chance of anyone ever noticing our (mostly sad) existence 

_How could these "humans" have been capable of creating such sublime and complex music while being capable of killing each other and exterminate themselves?

_Worst case scenario> _Is this noise what they called "music"? Idiots! No wonder they are gone! _


----------



## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I'd just nominate Beethoven and his complete works, as the best example of what truly sublime deeds a single human being is capable of.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

If I'm being honest about humanity I'd probably begin with _Baby Shark_ and end with _The Name Game_, but if I'm trying to represent us at our best:

1. Beethoven: Symphony #5, the famous Kleiber recording, to represent the western European CPP tradition. 
2. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, to represent western "popular" music. 
3. _Music from the Morning of the World_, the famous Nonesuch album. 
4. _Shakahuchi: The Japanese Flute_, another famous Nonesuch album. 
5. _The Call of the Valley_, a pretty good choice for Indian classical music.


----------



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

NoCoPilot said:


> China's cultural history precedes European by 4 millennia or more


European culture stems from the Mesopotamian cultures (ex. Ishtar => Astarte => Aphrodite, Sumerian myths => Old Testament, etc.) and as such is slightly older than the Chinese.

I recommend reading up the writings of prof. Ian Morris on the topic. Not only do they show how 'The Far East' and 'The West' have always been more alike than typically assumed, but also which of them was ahead in civil, cultural, technological and other types of development at which point in history.


----------



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

VoiceFromTheEther said:


> European culture stems from the Mesopotamian cultures (ex. Ishtar => Astarte => Aphrodite, Sumerian myths => Old Testament, etc.) and as such is slightly older than the Chinese.
> 
> I recommend reading up the writings of prof. Ian Morris on the topic. Not only do they show how 'The Far East' and 'The West' have always been more alike than typically assumed, but also which of them was ahead in civil, cultural, technological and other types of development at which point in history.


The first European civilization was the Minoan palace civilization, IIRC. Mesopotamia and Canaan* are Ancient Near East (Asian).

*Israelite civilization started around 1000 BCE with the unified monarchy. Canaanite civilization reached its peak centuries earlier.


----------



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

ORigel said:


> The first European civilization was the Minoan palace civilization, IIRC. Mesopotamia and Canaan* are Ancient Near East (Asian).
> 
> *Israelite civilization started around 1000 BCE with the unified monarchy. Canaanite civilization reached its peak centuries earlier.


Separating Europe from the so-called Near East / Orient / Levant is a fairly recent trend - no more than 1500 years old. The craddle of civilization was there, only the centre of weight kept shifting farther and farther west as the time and successor states went by. Islam and Christianity are religions from the same stem.

But that is offtop. Let's not derail the thread.


----------

