CASSINI’S DREAM
Cassini’s dream is based on radio emissions from Saturn's magnetic field recorded by the Cassini-Huygens space probe during its mission. A 13-second sound file based on these radio emissions, freely available from NASA’s website, was used as a source from which musical prime matter was generated to construct the piece. Using special software, this 13-second sound file was lengthened to 5 minutes and 45 seconds while preserving its complexity, in a sort of aural microscopy. Concrete musical information (pitch, rhythm, and dynamics) was then transcribed from this new extended sound file and turned into musical notation. It is played in synchrony with the electronics part, thus “overpainting” it. It is a musical analogy of artist Gerhard Richter’s “overpainting” technique, in which an existing photograph is used as the source material. Many inside-the-piano extended techniques are employed, including harmonics, clusters on strings, and sounds produced with a neodymium bar magnet.