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If I recall correctly, Bach's 3rd Brandenburg concerto was sent to outer space on Voyager 1 for potential alien discoverers to hear.

Personally, I would have chosen Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, as I've always felt it is the most special music ever written and represents humanity more than anything else ever could.

What would your pick be?

Is Cardi B still on the table?

Easy (for me)

Beethoven's 9th

Beethoven "Ode to Joy" without the singing in German...

Ode to Joy, but only with the singing in German.

Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. Even a heathen like me who actively avoids sacred music finds this sublimely beautiful. Schnabel famously said of this piece - "too simple for children and too difficult for adults".

No need to send anything, they can already hear it ;0

This is the Western classical music on the Voyager record:

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor.

Bach, "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux.

Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor.

Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor.

Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano.

Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor.

Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet.


Personally, I think it needs more diversity. Three Bachs and two Beethovens? Only one vocal piece? Surely we need a choral movement from Messiah or a Requiem - like the Hallelujah chorus or In Paradisum from Fauré's Requiem, which sounds, er, like paradise:



After all, we want to attract green aliens in UFOs to land here and make our heavenly body their home.....don't we? (The Stravinsky will, of course, deter them from coming and becoming our sacrificial lambs.)

Most of this music stuff was invented 100s of years ago. I'd be extremely worried the aliens thought we were primitive and pushovers.

I don't know a piece, but I know a composer - Ludovico Einaudi.

I do not know why, but I would send Beethoven's No. 21 in C major, op. 53 (Waldstein).

Satie: "Vexations", to keep them out. Mahler: 8th symphony, to hail them in.

Wow, that list is actually quite meh... Not horrible, but not great.

You make a good point about the composers. I don't think any list is complete without about 15 more composers. Not sure how much space they had back in '77(?). We should do another.

Let's evolve this thread into "Your Voyager List". I'll post mine shortly.

The record has 90 minutes of music in analogue, not digital form, so all you need is just a needle in the groove. (CD didn't appear until 1982.) Though any record player rotating at the right speed can play the music, you need high alien intelligence to understand the other information on it........like how to find Earth . (We don't want just any green alien Tom, Dick or Harriet to find us, do we?)

There's a lot of non-classical music on the record too. This is the complete list:

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
Java, court gamelan, "Kinds of Flowers," recorded by Robert Brown. 4:43
Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08
Zaire, Pygmy girls' initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56
Australia, Aborigine songs, "Morning Star" and "Devil Bird," recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26
Mexico, "El Cascabel," performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14
"Johnny B. Goode," written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
New Guinea, men's house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20
Japan, shakuhachi, "Tsuru No Sugomori" ("Crane's Nest,") performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51
Bach, "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55
Georgian S.S.R., chorus, "Tchakrulo," collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18
Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52
"Melancholy Blues," performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48
Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
Bulgaria, "Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin," sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59
Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes. 0:57
Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, "The Fairie Round," performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17
Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12
Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38
China, ch'in, "Flowing Streams," performed by Kuan P'ing-hu. 7:37
India, raga, "Jaat Kahan Ho," sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30
"Dark Was the Night," written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet. 6:37

Sticking with one piece, I keep coming back to Brahms Variations on a Theme by Hadyn. You can pick the op. 56a or 56b (2 piano) version.

I listened to the Dena Piano Duo version today. I think I recommend that one at the moment for 56b. I have no idea which performance to recommend for the orchestral version.

2001: A Space Odyssey theme "Also sprach Zarathustra" composed in 1896 by Richard Strauss
Debussy "Clair de Lune"
Vaughan Williams "Fantasia on Greensleeves"
Bach Brandenburg #1

Handel's "Messiah"
Bach Goldberg Variations
Bach Mass in B minor
Vaughan Williams "Fantasy on a Theme from Tallis"
Mahler Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Tallis "If Ye Love Me"

Or

^ haha love it

I can think of one piece I'd be happy to send to outer space!