Do you remember the first time we see the Discovery One in 2001? It eases slowly onto the screen, as a melancholy orchestral piece plays (the Adagio from the Gayane Ballet Suite, by Aram Ilyich Khachaturian). The effect is to emphasize the foreignness of humans in deep space. I’ve always found the scene incredibly lonely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jft1rvWQv0&t=1s
I had that scene in mind as I was writing of Nyla playing her cello over Radio Mars. But I wanted to deemphasize the loneliness and instead focus on finding strength through shared struggle.
Excerpt:
“The intimate and plaintive tone of the instrument, so similar to a human voice, sometimes made the children cry, but the tears brought them together. It was as if the music spoke to them of their fears and their suffering and told them that they were not alone, that other humans have suffered so, and knowing that helped them feel stronger.”
— from Food: Generation Mars, Book Four
I didn’t have any particular cello piece in mind for Nyla to play for Radio Mars, but my youngest has been practicing Vivaldi’s Cello Sonata in E Minor, Op. 14, No. 5, from Suzuki Book 5, lately. I think it’s a good fit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoL5RYymIB4
Image: Victorian woman standing with cello. Public domain