Celestial Visions

Joel Thome, Composer

Conceived, composed, and conducted by Joel Thome

Produced, recorded, and performed by Phil Moffa

The music for Celestial Visions is a cosmological sonic journey through the universe. It is an expression of a sound vision I experienced in the 1970s in which I experienced sounds of such powerful intensity that my total compositional life has been shaped by the search to manifest that experience since that time through the present. During that inner "sound journey," I realized that I had heard, in the most direct way, the sounds of the universe. Thus, I turned to NASA to find a bank of sound files that immediately reflected that sonic vision. This search resulted in the creation of my 1972 work entitled Time Spans which involved space sounds from Venus and Mars probes, satellite transmissions, and moon landing transmissions, plus tweeks, whistlers, and the Aurora Borealis. These materials have become my sound palette and resulted in the composition of many of my larger works including Savitri: Traveller of the Worlds, based on an epic poem of Sri Aurobindo. My current work Celestial Visions evolved from my stay at the home of the late Mrinalini Sarabhai in Ahmedabad, India with whom I had a long-lasting, deeply profound artistic collaboration of over 30 years! While conversing with Mrinalini and her daughter, Mallika, the idea for Celestial Visions was born. The title and music appeared in a poetic and sound vision. Once again, I turned to my cosmological sound palette - this time turning to NASA Voyager IV missions, utilizing sonic emanations from Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, the Van Allen Belt, the Aurora Borealis and sound files from the farthest reaches of our solar system. My work was greatly aided with the brilliant collaboration of musician, engineer and producer, Phil Moffa, without whom this work would not have emerged. Celestial Visions is dedicated to the memory of Mrinalini Sarabhai as well as to the victims of the crew of the Lucky Dragon Five, all the victims of nuclear disaster and war, and the continuing threat of nuclear annihilation in our time. I owe a debt of gratitude as well to the extraordinary activism of the Sarabhai's of India who have fought so courageously for an end to nuclear proliferation and for social justice in this world. Thanks to Dr. Howard Weisberg, Particle Physicist, original introduction to NASA'S Originally tape data files. And finally, thanks to the children of St. Vincent's School in Queens, New York for their beautiful voices of peace.

About the Artists

Joel Thome

A Grammy Award recipient and Pulitzer Prize nominee, Joel Thome is an internationally acclaimed composer of classical and contemporary orchestral music. Having conducted various prominent and international orchestras, Thome is also a renowned conductor of opera and other music/theatre works. He has also collaborated with a number of renowned musicians, visual artists, film makers, and choreographers on various projects.

His modern opera performances include the Weill/Brecht Threepenny Opera, and the Thomson/Stein Four Saints in Three Acts. Thome regularly collaborated with Frank Zappa, providing critically acclaimed arrangements of Zappa’s wide-ranging repertoire. In 1994, Thome’s Polygram/Verve recording of Zappa’s Universe received a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental. Thome’s major compositions include Savitri Traveller of the Worlds (Pulitzer Prize nomination), the score for Picasso’s play Catch Desire by the Tail, Book of Beginnings V for Benny Reitveldt, and Time Spans. His recordings include the Thomson/Stein opera Four Saints in Three Acts (Nonesuch), Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire for Vox, and Satyavan: Dream Twilight for World Sound.

Thome has served as a member of the board of directors of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Mexican Institute for Culture in New York, Erick Hawkins Foundation for Modern Dance, and the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. For several years he acted as the head of the Music Department at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2002 and 2004 he was awarded the Music Has Power Award, and the ASCAP award respectively. Thome received his BA from the Eastman School of Music, MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and Certificate from the Ecole Internationale for Music and Dance in Switzerland. He also studied with Pierre Boulez at the Concours Internationale in Switzerland.

Phil Moffa

Electronic musician, producer, and professor Phil Moffa is also the owner/operator of Butcha Sound Studios in New York City. Moffa has performed internationally for years and has contributed his talents to the creation of hundreds of records as recordist, producer, mixer, and mastering engineer. Moffa is one half of Lost Souls of Saturn with Seth Troxler. In 2019, they released their debut eponymous album on R&S Records to critical acclaim and installed their multimedia piece 'Transmission' in Basel, Switzerland and at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Since 2004, Moffa has been a faculty member at Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music, teaching future generations of studio producers. In addition to numerous musical endeavours, Moffa is also a multimedia and installation artist. In 2020, Phil started the Butcha Sound Records imprint to release original works of both his music and art. Moffa is a lifelong NYC resident and vinyl record collector. http://philmoffa.com