Heaven and Hell-Vangelis

[Avian]

This is a very important album for me, too. I really think that the end of Part 1 (the theme to Cosmos) is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.

When Carl Sagan died in 1996, I was given the task of producing a tribute to him in some way, to show in front of a planetarium full of colleagues from around the country at a conference.

I watched a few episodes of Cosmos on VHS to get some inspiration, and remembered where the soundtrack came from. I had to track down the CD as an import - it had long ago been out of print in the U.S. (this is before it was reissued). I used the piece, and laid down samples of Carl Sagan quotes from Cosmos intersperced throughout. The soundtrack was moving enough, but then I choreographed it all to really beautiful laser light animation and Digistar effects. I played it in Philly under the dome to the convened crowd, and it left grown men crying. Thunderous applause and the like. I was used to positive crowd reactions to my work, but this was above and beyond. What a feeling!

It was especially nifty, too - I had just been told at the conference that I didn't get hired for a job I interviewed for a few months before (remind me to tell THAT story sometime - I found out at the reception!). The guy who told turned me down saw my presentation, and watched everyone congratulate me, wiping their eyes, etc. Hee hee. The postscript to the whole thing is that he hired me a few years later at his next job - in Kansas. And here I am.

Avian