Vision of Discovery

Vision of Discovery is a symphonic overture for orchestra, celebrating humanity's quest for knowledge, and inspired by NASA’s Lucy mission and its trail-blazing robotic exploration of the Trojan asteroids. The piece is part of my contribution to the #NASALucySoundscape, a project which invites composers "to express a feeling or tell a story of inspiration and discovery" using a three-note motif that the Lucy Team adopted as a "musical mission patch". 

Generated using Finale 26 and Garritan Personal Orchestra 5. Audio levels are low so you will need to turn up the volume. If you don't hear the entrance of the basses at 1 minute in, please boost your bass, or use better headphones or speakers.

© 2024 Thomas S. Statler. This recording is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0). You may share the recording with others and/or use it in derivative works as long as you explicitly credit me and do not use the recording for commercial purposes. In addition, you may not alter the metadata in the audio file identifying the title, composer, artist, or licensing information. The license pertains only to the audio recording and not to the underlying musical work or public performances.

Listener's Notes

Vision of Discovery is a celebration of humanity’s quest for knowledge. Its direct inspiration is NASA’s Lucy mission, a 12-year robotic exploration of the Trojan asteroids conceived, designed, and carried out by a team of diverse and dedicated individuals. Musically rooted in a three-note motif that evokes a bold question, Vision of Discovery unfolds in a series of episodes. The quiet beginning symbolizes the realm of the not-yet-discovered: not empty, but rich and enigmatic. The motif hovers in this realm ambiguously, then opens into a broad theme representing the curiosity and intellect that drive humans to explore and understand. This transitions to a gentler episode symbolizing the many people whose lives intersect on the mission team, having many voices yet working toward a common goal. Following this is a complex, animated section suggesting the technology and the machinery of exploration, which has to fit together better than clockwork to perform. Then an abrupt pause, countdown, and launch! An enormous lift and an incredible acceleration; then separation; systems come to life; solar panels deploy; and the machine that people built to go where they cannot plunges into the void. Years pass in the loneliness of the long dark cruise. But as the objective comes into sight, humanity, machinery, and vision come together to achieve the culminating moment of affirmation and discovery – which passes in an instant, leaving the realm of the not-yet-discovered again before us, richer than it was, with our understanding enlarged and our vision extended into the unknown.