About this Piece

When I’m between film and television projects, my wife Bridget often encourages me to write pieces for the concert hall. It stretches my imagination and leads me in directions I may never explore in a visual medium. In the summer of 2022, I took her up on the challenge. When searching for inspiration, I often turn to Beethoven, and as I listened to his string quartets, his 13th (Op. 130) particularly spoke to me. Upon further investigation of the work, I discovered that a recording of the fifth movement is included on the Golden Record, a disk featuring the ‘sounds of Earth’, aboard both Voyager spacecrafts. The spark hit me immediately, and I decided to write a piece that tells the story of Voyager’s journey through space, with the Cavatina providing thematic material.

It begins on the launchpad, with the sounds of calculating computer systems created by electronic synthesizer, the sheer power of the rocket characterized by rumbling low strings and brass, mechanical sounds of tapping metal and wood, an original motif, and a single, staccato oboe, representing the communications system aboard Voyager itself. Anticipation builds, with these systems growing louder and louder, until the rocket finally launches, unleashing a burst of energy and momentum. It’s toward the end of this energetic section that the first reference to the Cavatina occurs—a fragment played like a fanfare in the horns and violas.

The rocket’s fuselages fall away from Voyager, and it is in orbit. While marveling at the beauty of Earth from above, the first page of the Cavatina is played in its original string quartet form, accompanied by synthesizer sounds and a recording featured on the Golden Record. On it is a series of greetings spoken in dozens of languages, signifying the precious cargo Voyager is carrying—our identity.

The Cavatina and original motif are presented in new arrangements, each one grander than the next, expressing the indescribable sights of this journey. The spacecraft passes Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. Suddenly, Voyager reaches the edge of our solar system.

It is no longer traversing the beauty of the universe but rather a cold void. The dizzying feeling of being confronted by this enormity is expressed by the return of the Golden Record greetings, as well as sounds of nature. These are distorted and time-stretched, accompanied by icy, shivering strings, and a somber duet between French and English horns.

The music builds to a climax that bursts with triumph, and out from it emerges peace, with the four principal string players playing a canon featuring new fragments of the Cavatina.

The sounds fade, except for quiet, high string harmonics, synthesizer effects and the single oboe representing Voyager. As these sounds slowly drift away, we are left with Voyager all alone, floating ever deeper into the great beyond.

—Daniel Slatkin, 2024