Urmas Sisask: "The Milky Way", opus 24

“The Milky Way”, "Linnutee galaktika" by Urmas Sisask is performed by the Grieg Pianoduo, with astronomical images selected by Peter Barthel.
The Milky Way for piano 4-hands is opus 24 of the Estonian composer and amateur-astronomer Urmas Sisask (1960-2022), and was composed in 1990. A live performance by the Grieg Pianoduo, Elles van der Heiden and Siebert Nix, with astronomical images selected and projected by astronomy professor Peter Barthel, took place on September 18, 2009. This concert, in Groningen, The Netherlands - during the 2009 International Year of Astronomy - was attended by the composer.
The composition, with subtitle Gloria in Excelsis Deo, is in two parts. The first part paints the dynamic summer view and the second parts paints the serene winter view of our Milky Way. Together with other astro-music compositions of Sisask, The Milky Way forms part of the Keys-to-the-Stars concerts, in which the astronomer “accompanies” the live pianoduo performances with astronomical video, on a big screen behind the piano. In his piano compositions, Sisask occasionally demands unusual techniques such as muting strings, playing clusters, and glissandi directly on the strings.
Image credits: APOD/Hepburn, NRAO/Wang, NOAO/Rector/Wolpa, Robert Gendler, ESO, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope
www.griegpianoduo.nl
www.peterbarthel.nl