# Music that reminds you of outer space



## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Being a big astronomy nerd on my spare time, I especially love music that reminds me of the cosmos. Besides the rather obvious _The Planets_ suite by Holst, pieces like Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe Suite 2, Ligeti's Lux Aeterna and Requiem, and Debussy's La Mer always make me feel like I'm floating in space or visiting a distant planet. That might sound a bit wacky, but I've loved studying outer space since I was a small kid, and since I've loved music equally as long, one has often reminded me of the other.
Anyone else know of music which sounds like/reminds you of space?


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

I think progressive electronic and ambient music are the best for a spacey sound, but perhaps some Feldman pieces for large ensembles like Coptic Light and For Samuel Beckett sound spacey, floating, and mysterious.


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## Logos (Nov 3, 2012)

Bruckner's music conveys a sense of vastness that one might associate with outer space.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Varese Intégrales (or most of his works really)


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2018)

I was also thinking of Bruckner. Plainchant too, for that matter, although perhaps a sense of 'space' might also be created through the acoustic reverberation.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The fifth symphony of Valentin Silvestrov - fill me with awe and wonder. Frightening music too.

Two cheats: the late Samuel Pellman made two disks of electroacoustic music, Selected Galaxies and Selected Planets. Granted, electronic music is so closely identified with outer space and sci-fi that it seems too easy, but these are moody, etherial, thought-provoking, and actually quite beautiful disks that I love to play early in the morning or especially late at night with the fireplace burning and a nice drink in hand. Very evocative stuff, and no, not traditional classical music.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

shirime said:


> I was also thinking of Bruckner. Plainchant too, for that matter, although perhaps a sense of 'space' might also be created through the acoustic reverberation.


Where do you think I should start with Bruckner if I like the really slow, calm stuff?


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## Logos (Nov 3, 2012)

Fredx2098 said:


> Where do you think I should start with Bruckner if I like the really slow, calm stuff?


How about the famous adagio from his 7th symphony? However, I don't know if I should describe it as calm. Most of Bruckner's orchestral music consists of lengthy, lugubrious passages that build up to thunderous crescendos followed by silence--and then the process repeats for an hour or so.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

Logos said:


> How about the famous adagio from his 7th symphony? However, I don't know if I should describe it as calm. Most of Bruckner's orchestral music consists of lengthy, lugubrious passages that build up to thunderous crescendos followed by silence--and then the process repeats for an hour or so.


Sounds right up my alley. I'll start with the symphonies.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Aaron Copland's El Salon Mexico always reminds me of the Martian moon Phobos, because I was reading Paul Capon's teen SF novel "Lost: A Moon" when I first got to know it.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Checkout soundcloud.com all out of space. You have to be quick though, it's coming and going there.


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## RogerExcellent (Jun 11, 2018)

Rogerx said:


> Checkout soundcloud.com all out of space. You have to be quick though, it's coming and going there.


I always urge grandkids to stay off soundcloud, it is awful noise


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Answering the OP in the most direct way.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

There you go. One of my favorite pieces of music. Give it time.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

Steve Roach is amazing!

I have to mention Structures from Silence as well:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlD0UG8nT-Ubfq9T4BnnCkBOSps-59Sos


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## les24preludes (May 1, 2018)

Here's some:
Lenny White - Venusian Summer Suite 



Jan Hammer - The First Seven Days 



Brian Eno - Another Green World 




I have a song about outer space called "Weightless" but I haven't put it online yet.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I can't believe R. Struass' "Also sprach Zarathustra" hasn't been mentioned yet.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

I really like Brett Dean's _Koramov's Fall_, which definitely has sections that qualify:






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Komarov


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

It's a little off topic but if you haven't heard of it I recommend the freeware software Space Engine! 
It also has nice ambient music while you travel through a 3D universe based on existing catalogs of planets, stars and galaxies. Turn on procedural generation and you can add another infinity of them. It's a wonderful program to toy around with. The ultimate space experience at home.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

DeepR said:


> It's a little off topic but if you haven't heard of it I recommend the freeware software Space Engine!
> It also has nice ambient music while you travel through a 3D universe based on existing catalogs of planets, stars and galaxies. Turn on procedural generation and you can add another infinity of them. It's a wonderful program to toy around with. The ultimate space experience at home.


Oh trust me, I've used just about every astronomy-related program there is! I have Space Engine, Celestia, Universe Sandbox 2, Stellarium, Orbiter Simulator, and love using all of them. Some of these (Space Engine and Universe Sandbox) come with music that I never really cared for; I prefer to put on my favorite spacey-sounding music while using them.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Penderecki: Kosmogonia
Terry Riley: Sun Rings
Stockhausen: Sirius
Saariaho: Asteroid 4179
or space rock

I personlly find movie or game soundtrack much more evoking of the atmosphere of space. Try to film scores to Alien or Prometheus or Total Recall or many others. When I was young I played some computer games (not anymore) and to this day I remember the soundtrack from the (long forgotten) game Ascendancy or Alpha Centauri or Mass Effect


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Any piece of music that has the ondes martenot in it.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Iancu Dumitrescu - Galaxy






I once composed a musique concrete piece using transduced* signals from pulsars and the like. But it would be of poor taste to insert a self-promotional link here.

*That is, from electromagnetic (the way in which pulsars naturally emit them) to sound waves.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

aleazk said:


> Iancu Dumitrescu - Galaxy
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I like that piece. It sounds like it's influenced by industrial/noise/dark ambient, which reminds me of the composer/artist Vladimír Hirsch, but his music is more intense and jarring than that piece.

I don't think it would be out of place to post your piece here. I'm interested. The concept reminds me of an ambient album called Symphonies of the Planets which uses NASA Voyager recordings:


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## Myriadi (Mar 6, 2016)

The Estonian composer Urmas Sisask has so many pieces inspired by stars and galaxies. I like his Starry Sky piano cycles very much - they're collections of small pieces, each inspired by a particular constellation.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I can't believe R. Struass' "Also sprach Zarathustra" hasn't been mentioned yet.


I think the totality of that piece is about falling _from_ space.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

MarkW said:


> Any piece of music that has the ondes martenot in it.


Oh really!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Varese - Arcana


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Sunshine on a distant Moon by yours truly

http://www.kompoz.com/music/collaboration/696455


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## qualitywaffles (Apr 16, 2018)

Ligeti - Clocks and Clouds, for 12 Female Voices & Orchestra

This always seemed like Ligeti's 'spaciest' composition to me, Kubrick aside.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

It surprises me this thread got this far along with no mention of Salvatore Sciarrino. Any of his big orchestral pieces has very much of a "weird" outer space quality.

To name just a few:

Un'Immagine di arpocrate
Variazioni
Il suono e il tacere
I fuochi oltre la ragione
Shadow of Sound


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Gordontrek said:


> Being a big astronomy nerd on my spare time, I especially love music that reminds me of the cosmos.


Our planet Earth seems to be in the middle of what we call "outer space", so I suspect that _all_ of our Earthly music comes from "outer space" and thus can remind us of that environ.

Sort of like music that reminds us of "nature". It's _all_ nature. We humans are as much a part of nature as the "meanest flower that blows," to quote nature poet William Wordsworth. I get somewhat annoyed when I hear that, say, a teacher is taking kids out for a walk to "see nature." All the kids need do is look at themselves and one another. Remember, the full line of the Wordsworth quote is as follows: "To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears". Perhaps what those thoughts _are_ are thoughts that we are all a part of nature, and, too, integrally a part of the cosmos as well. That is, of _outer space_!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I could list another countless ambient pieces that remind me of space, but I'll restrain myself. Just a few more then. :tiphat:

Lustmord - Metastatic Resonance
https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/track/metastatic-resonance

Steve Roach - Dream Body





Troum & Yen Pox - Mnemonic Induction Part II





Oophoi - Lord of the Starfields


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

I haven't heard it, but Karl-Birger Blomdahl's 1959 opera, "Aniara," is set aboard a spaceship headed to Mars-- before it gets lost in interstellar space. It has been recorded; but all I own is the suite.

img upload


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

"Star Engine," from Douglas Leedy's Entropical Paradise (1971), sounds pretty much like its title.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

Fredx2098 said:


> Where do you think I should start with Bruckner if I like the really slow, calm stuff?


Hey Fred

Bruckner is my favorite composer as you probably know from our correspondence

Here's a recommendation you probably won't get from anyone else. IMO Bruckner's most unique slow movement, very dramatic






Also, anything by Bruckner conducted by Celibidache is guaranteed to be much more slow and deliberate than by any composer. I think he does Bruckner justice but others hate him.

Slow movement from Symphony 6 is phenomenal too


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

The Interstellar Call is a horn solo from Messiaen's Des Canyons aux etoiles


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

geralmar said:


> I haven't heard it, but Karl-Birger Blomdahl's 1959 opera, "Aniara," is set aboard a spaceship headed to Mars-- before it gets lost in interstellar space. It has been recorded; but all I own is the suite.
> 
> img upload


its amazing. Goes from Ligeti-like atmospheres to jazz-influenced semi-atonal madness.






If you skip to 16:26 you will hear an absolutely insane bit!! The jazzy part that comes like a minute later is even better


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Alexander Brott, "Spheres in Orbit" (1961).



Historic performance in Russia; however much more listenable performance below:


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

It is easy to imagine I'm traveling through space while listening to the the symphonies of Robert Simpson and Vagn Holmboe.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

mathisdermaler said:


> Hey Fred
> 
> Bruckner is my favorite composer as you probably know from our correspondence
> 
> ...


Thanks! I prefer to listen to full symphonies though. Would you say 3, 6, and 7 are the most beloved or your favorites? Which are the "popular" ones? Of course I'd like to hear them all, but as a beginner... I have a similar confusion with Mahler but I have listened to the first couple symphonies and I loved them of course.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Logos said:


> Bruckner's music conveys a sense of vastness that one might associate with outer space.


I've always felt the best argument for the Steady State theory is the conclusion of the eighth symphony.


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## Minor Sixthist (Apr 21, 2017)

Not to miss Ives' point or anything but this one really stands out to me for the spacey vibe... (Bernstein NY Phil)


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2018)

The ambient music of the universe should surely get a mention:


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

dogen said:


> The ambient music of the universe should surely get a mention:


Hey man, repost!!


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2018)

Fredx2098 said:


> repost!!


Sorry, what do you mean?


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

dogen said:


> Sorry, what do you mean?


I linked to that album earlier. Great album though, deserves to be mentioned twice!


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2018)

Fredx2098 said:


> I linked to that album earlier. Great album though, deserves to be mentioned twice!


Whoops! I've got it on my Audible app. :tiphat:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I have been watching this thread but nothing came to me as invoking outer space. I do often experience mental imagery as pictures and even little "mental gifs" when I listen to music but these are rarely obvious and music that sounds deliberately weird is unlikely to give me outer space! For me I think space is more likely to be invoked in music for strings - I don't know why - and I guess two works that could work are Elgar's Introduction and Allegro and the Metamorphosen of Strauss. If I was musically educated I could explain why, and where in the music, the associations come .... but I can't. Does anyone get these associations, I wonder?


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

Enthusiast said:


> I have been watching this thread but nothing came to me as invoking outer space. I do often experience mental imagery as pictures and even little "mental gifs" when I listen to music but these are rarely obvious and music that sounds deliberately weird is unlikely to give me outer space! For me I think space is more likely to be invoked in music for strings - I don't know why - and I guess two works that could work are Elgar's Introduction and Allegro and the Metamorphosen of Strauss. If I was musically educated I could explain why, and where in the music, the associations come .... but I can't. Does anyone get these associations, I wonder?


Strings create more of a stably oscillating "drone" sound compared to other instruments, which is usually associated with a "spacey" atmosphere. I think classical music is just not the ideal genre for an outer-space atmosphere. I would recommend ambient and progressive electronic music.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Electronic music doesn't make me picture space, I'm afraid. I think my imaging facility has a bias against predictable associations so I am filtering out modernist music for this one! Also, I withdraw the suggested Strauss, above: it doesn't work for me. But I am more convinced of the Elgar - it does work. Of course, it sounds ridiculous to picture outer space in response to Elgar but there you are!


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Fredx2098 said:


> Sounds right up my alley. I'll start with the symphonies.


Also, Celi:


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Yes, I always wanted to 'curate' a planetarium display to the opening movement of Bruckner's 4th, for instance. I reckon it would be a fabulous experience. And you'd sell the 'soundtrack' hand-over-fist at the gift shop afterwards.
Graeme


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

GraemeG said:


> Yes, I always wanted to 'curate' a planetarium display to the opening movement of Bruckner's 4th, for instance. I reckon it would be a fabulous experience. And you'd sell the 'soundtrack' hand-over-fist at the gift shop afterwards.
> Graeme


You know, my mother once told me that when she was growing up in Miami back in the 70s, there was a planetarium she sometimes went to for school trips that always played Bach's F Major Invention in the background. To this day that piece makes her think of stars and planets and vice versa. It's not the first piece I would name when thinking of "spacey" music, but it's interesting how different pieces mean different things to different people. 
But I agree, the opening of Bruckner 4 would be excellent background to a planetarium display or a space documentary. I'd pay money to see it!


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

Fredx2098 said:


> Thanks! I prefer to listen to full symphonies though. Would you say 3, 6, and 7 are the most beloved or your favorites? Which are the "popular" ones? Of course I'd like to hear them all, but as a beginner... I have a similar confusion with Mahler but I have listened to the first couple symphonies and I loved them of course.


My very idiosyncratic rating (best to worst):
9
8
3
5
7
6
4
2
1
0
00

The general consensus AFAIK:
8
7
4
9
5
3
6
2
1
0
00


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Classical music may remind me of space when the sound gets really big, such as the finale of Mahler 8 or Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy. 
Otherwise I'm spoiled by electronic ambient music for spacey atmopsheres. "Dry" music generally doesn't work for me. No reverb, no glory. Need reverb for that atmospheric effect and a sense of space and vastness.
Listen to "Altus", the last 20 minutes of Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void (see my first post in this topic). Give it a chance, listen multiple times in different settings... THAT is vastness and infinity expressed through sound.


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