Andrey Klimkovsky is a Russian composer working in the electronic music space. Musical images he created — «Music of Celestial Spheres», «Starry Sky», «ALEALA» and «DreamOcean» have become classics of the genre, gaining fame both in Russia and abroad. The musician regularly gives spectacular live concerts and collaborates with many other representatives of the Russian electronic scene, leads a popular community about synthesizers and workstations, participates in astronomical expeditions and practices a healthy lifestyle.
The Moon continues to move through the constellation of Taurus, and will rise this evening not far from the open star cluster Hyades and the orange star Aldebaran, which heads this constellation.
In different locations on our planet, the visibility of the Moon's approach to the Hyades and Aldebaran will vary slightly. In Eastern Europe, moonrise will find the Moon exactly halfway between the Pleiades and the Hyades. Here, the Moon will gradually approach the Hyades and Aldebaran during the night, reaching its closest approach (8 degrees north — it's still far — not as close as the Moon approached the Pleiades last night) only at dawn.
In autumn they rise in the evening twilight. As the sky darkens and the autumn air fills with ringing coolness, they rise higher and higher. Their cold brilliant shine and slight shimmering catches the eye of a night traveler. It seems that they beckon to themselves, although they remain infinitely distant, indifferent to anyone who looks at them.
On the coming night, the Moon, waning after the full moon, will be near the Pleiades open star cluster — it will pass 3 degrees south.
The Pleiades is the most beautiful open star cluster in the northern sky. It is perfectly visible to the eye — even with the Moon, although if the Moon is very close, it will be more difficult to see the Pleiades — someone will not see them with the eye. But it will be possible to observe the approach of the Moon to the Pleiades with binoculars or a spyglass — both will fit perfectly in one field of view.
It is believed that people with average (normal vision) see 6-7 stars in the Pleiades. People with excellent vision see 10-12 stars in the Pleiades — on a moonless night, of course. And those observers, who have a dozen of the brightest stars in the whole sky without glasses, see only one in the Pleiades — the brightest — Alcyone. Alcyone is by far the most luxurious diamond in all this starry placer. By the way, usually people with a little myopia or farsightedness see the Pleiades as a small foggy cloud in the sky. There is even an opinion that the observation of the Pleiades, as well as astronomical observations in general, is a very effective means for improving vision. With each subsequent night, the observer's skills increase, and more and more stars become visible.
The moon moves along the ecliptic - along the zodiac constellations. The planets also move along the ecliptic. It can be assumed that the Moon sometimes covers the planets. And this happens. However, this is a rather rare event. This is due to the small size of the Moon - only half a degree, and the fact that the orbits of the Moon and the planets do not lie in the same plane - the angle between them is up to several degrees. And more often than not, the Moon misses.
10 years ago, this wonderful concert took place, and soon a DVD disc with its full recording was released:
«Music of Celestial Spheres in Moscow Planetarium»
Composer Andrey Klimkovsky and Friends
There were only three friends: Igor Kolesnikov, Olya Zemlyanika and your obedient servant.
But in the concert itself, and around it, a lot of people took part. I can’t remember everyone now, and I didn’t even know someone’s names then. The Moscow Planetarium is a very large organization, and holding concerts under its dome is a very massive event, both in terms of the number of spectators and the number of staff involved.
The full Moon will come at 23:55 Moscow time. This is actually a great luck. After all, most often we talk about the night closest to the full Moon, but the full Moon itself can happen in the morning or in the evening, or even the day before. And when we observe the Moon at night, it has either already passed the full Moon, or the full Moon has not yet come — in both cases, the Moon is not quite full.
My previous studio session, filmed with many summer sunrise photos, was very much enjoyed by my listeners. And I thought - why not to make something similar with this session of intuitive improvisational music. And I did it - I just threw out the video layer with the keyboard of the synthesizer and my hands - I left only the background. And you know - it's great!
On the night of October 8-9, 2022, the Moon will come close enough to the brightest planet in the autumn sky — Jupiter. Perhaps you already saw the Moon last night and not far from it a very bright luminary. On the net, I met a lot of questions about this: "What is the star next to the Moon?"
Jupiter is not a star, but a planet. True, this is the largest planet in the family of solar planets — Jupiter exceeds the Earth by more than 10 times in diameter and more than 300 times in mass. And its dense cloudy atmosphere reflects sunlight very well — that's why it is so bright. Moreover, now it is relatively close to the Earth, because a few days ago (September 27, 2022) the Great Opposition of Jupiter took place. Of course, the Great Oppositions of Jupiter are not as significant as the great oppositions of Mars — the red planet has a significant spread of distances in oppositions, while Jupiter has a very minor one. But still, it's nice to realize that this gas giant is now in a special way towards us. And one more thing — the Great Oppositions of Jupiter are not so rare — they happen once every 12 years (for Mars — once every 15/17 years).
This coming night, the Moon will pass just 2 degrees south of Jupiter. Both luminaries will fit within the field of view of binoculars, a tube, or even a small telescope. The moon will be almost full — phase: 98.5%.
Jupiter will also have a full phase — the other one cannot be seen from the Earth. The brightness of Jupiter will be -3m, the angular diameter is 50" — it does not happen more over. Everything that concerns Jupiter will be record-breaking this and the coming nights — and the distance too — 595 million km — is actually record-small.
Back in early summer 2022, Kurzweil announced the release of a new version of the Stage Electronic Piano “Kurzweil SP7”. There is a certain shortage of microprocessors in the world now, and perhaps that is why they are seriously talking about the new product only now.
But it all started with a song. It was written by my old friend, with whom we studied at the Moscow Planetarium. The song was dramatic in meaning, if did not say tragic. In eight verses, it was told how the hero of the story was thrown down here — on Earth — still he was very young, and all his life he cannot find a common language with the strange inhabitants of this planet — not the kindest creatures, to put it bluntly.
But then I took it as proof of the theory of the transmigration of Souls. Who knows, maybe the soul of the author of the song in the previous incarnation did not live here, and remembers other feelings and relationships between intelligent beings... Or maybe I am the same, since it hooked me so much...
Back in 1985, I tried to interpret the music of that song in my own way, written by the author with a guitar. But in the end, I wrote a lot of melodies that formed around the song into something larger in form — into a whole symphony... or just an album of instrumental music. But then I was 16 years old, and I didn’t record any albums then.
It's been a long ago. Some melodies were lost, forgotten. And the attitude to the plot of the song was greatly transformed. I began to consider it as evidence of spiritual growth.
The analogy is simple: children, while they are small, fit their own house and a playground nearby, but they don’t go to the playground near another house — it’s a stranger. And other children are often chased away with their own.
As a person grows up, he begins to associate himself with his city, country, planet ... and then the planet becomes small for him. Not all people, of course, from the first time live to such a level of self-acceptance as part of the Universe. But at some point, the question arises by itself: “Where did my Soul come from? — Did It really arise right here? And if I am the whole Universe, then my Soul has always been the whole Universe and manifested itself here only in order to put a point to growth trajectory — one of the points. And how many such points have already been? How many more will be?“
In the late 90s, this album reappeared in my musical plans. I expected to record it by 1999 — even the covers were printed. But then the recording did not take place. However, at least I rethought the musical basis again — I managed to remember something (after almost 15 years), and write something again. But I managed to approach the recording of the album «I was born not on the Earth» only in the mid of 00s. In the summer of 2007 the first half was completed and in August 2008 the album was finally released.
The original song sounds in the album in an instrumental form, of course, there are no chants here. But the irony is that later one of the melodies of the album «I Was Born not on the Earth» was used by the composer Victor Argonov for his electronic opera, and there it sounds like the main theme of the real song itself. And in general, the electronic opera «We, XXII century» can be considered as a logical continuation of the album «I was born not on the Earth». This is such an amazing thread.
Now the album «I was born not on the Earth» is fully uploaded on Youtube — you can listen and ask questions.
You can’t just talk about concerts at the Optical Theatre, the Museum of Astronautics, the Museum of the History of the Earth, but not talk about concerts at the Moscow Planetarium. There were three of them — in 2012-2013. But only one was recorded qualitatively — the middle one.
Probably, there is no need now to talk about how exciting the light show was on the largest dome-screen in Europe (the dome of the Moscow Planetarium is really the largest in Europe). But I consider it necessary to note the uniqueness of the musical component of that concert — each composition sounded in a completely unexpected playing, and new versions were prepared for some melodies. This became possible thanks to the participation in the concert of my colleague — musician and composer — Igor Kolesnikov, and an absolutely inimitable vocalist — Olga Zemlyanika. And although Olga participated in only two numbers, this concert is worth listening to only for her participation.
In 2013, the concert was released on CD, and now it has appeared on Youtube — you can listen (or you can watch — there is an indication of the DVD version in the description).
Friends, today — April 12 — the country in which I live — Russia — celebrates "Cosmonautics Day". It's strange — to wage war and be proud of space achievements at the same time. Personally, I can't understand it. But nevertheless, the first manned flight into space — it was performed by Yuri Gagarin in 1961 — is a world achievement, and our common big step into the Universe.
But on this day I decided to tell you a slightly different story — the story of the exploration of Venus by the space stations «Venera 13» and «Venera 14». There is a rather lengthy story about them in the description of this single.
It's hard to stop once you start playing Bach's music on the synthesizer.
The famous Prelude in C major that opens my new album «Delphinus» may sound different. This mini-single features two alternate versions. One of them is hidden - it is a bonus.
Friends, at this difficult time for our entire planet, I would like to wish all those living on Earth Peace, Friendship, constructive creativity, and all those people who are now in trouble, safe salvation and help, the symbol of which has long time been the Dolphin - good and a sentient being that we have underestimated for so long.
I want to remind you that dolphins are another civilization on our planet, which, unlike people, does not fight among themselves, has no territorial and racial claims to other dolphins. For its best qualities, the dolphin was ascended to heaven in the myths of ancient Greece, and became a constellation.
My new album is dedicated to the Delphinus constellation.
Let it become an outlet and comfort for someone, and give hope to someone.
Friends, for the past three days I have had an epiphany regarding the transformation of philosophical ideas into musical phrases ... okay, take it as a joke ... although, in every joke there is only a part of the funny, and the other part is serious. What if the path of Man in the Universe starts deep in the microcosm, and is directed to the stars and galaxies? We — none of us — certainly do not remember how we were once small atoms. But you don't have to remember.
It would not be superfluous to just think about it along with this music.
This is another five of the improvised studio tracks that are unlikely to be turned into anything finished. However, they listen quite well in this form. Besides, each melody here corresponds to this or that philosophical idea. This seems to be the richest studio session in mental and visual imagery. And also - it is the longest, which is not so important.
This selection of improvisational tracks is not uniform at the moment of occurrence — everything was recorded on different days (or rather, nights). But I felt the impulse of the need to collect this music in one carriage and roll it away on the rails of life. Further, it is itself, and I need to move forward.
Despite some seeming fragmentation, these tracks differ in a common feature — each of them corresponds to a certain philosophical thought. I expressed it right in the first publication on Youtube and social networks. It will be superfluous to duplicate the description of each improvisation here, but all this is in a very colorful PDF booklet, the design of which was very successful this time. Take it along with the music. It also contains active links to videos.
Friends, we have lived through the shortest day of the outgoing year. The longest night is ahead. But the previous one was actually the same — the difference is microscopic.
The shortest day in Moscow on the winter solstice is only 7 hours. The night is all the time remaining in the day... Although, after all, there is also twilight. According to various estimates, evening and morning twilight lasts from 30 minutes to an hour. And there are 3 types of twilight: "Civil", "Navigational" and "Astronomical". Modern man knows even less about the differences between them than about how the winter solstice differs from the summer one. But this is only because most people do not need it. It got dark — it means that the twilight is over, the night has come.
The night takes almost 16 hours from the Moscow winter days. There is more to the north of Moscow — for example, in St. Petersburg 17, and in Murmansk all 24 hours — there is a polar night.
But the best part is that from this date every next day will become longer until March 20 equals the duration of the night. Although here, too, this comparison will be very conditional.
The world is full of conventions.
For example, today, from the point of view of astronomers, the astronomical winter has begun. It has been snowing for almost a month, but the astronomical winter does not coincide with the climatic or calendar winter.
Meanwhile, there are really important components of life. It can be cold outside the window, but if the soul is warm, you will not be afraid of any frost. The darkness and length of the winter night will not frighten you if you live with a kind attitude to the World. And Spring will come very soon if you do not wait for her with folded hands.
These abilities are not determined by science, are not described in numbers, but it is they that fill our life with happiness.
And happiness can be found even in winter. Even on the longest winter night.
The infinity of our World lies not in the number of stars and planets revolving around them, not in the distances separating them, but in the boundless multitude of combinations of mutual dispositions that they could make, the variety of versions of our realization in this physical space. And, as it turned out, our Universe is simply not able to contain all this - everything that its matter could construct from itself - for the entire time of its existence.
There is no point in somehow stretching this time, because even having increased the period of the possible existence of the Universe by a million times, we will not solve this problem. And for the realization of the full potential of the matter of which our World is composed (although the material part of the Universe is only a small fraction of what may be in it), any time frame will be tight.
And if this is so, then there certainly exist in an innumerable set of other spaces in which other scenarios and forms of existence and development of material structures are realized. Our World is just one of the random versions.
By the way, I recorded this improvisation 6 times. Chose only one. the rest are no better or worse, but to a large extent, they are different in development and even in form. And until some critical number of these records had accumulated, neither I nor they, no one in this world, knew which of these "random versions" would eventually be chosen.
Probably, many have heard that the Parade of the Planets is taking place. Someone calls this parade of planets "small", suggesting that it can be cooler. But what the essence of the phenomenon is, not so many representatives of humanity are already aware.
In mid-December this year, perhaps the best conditions were formed for observing Venus - the planet closest to Earth - for the entire period of its evening visibility, which began in June, but was extremely unsatisfactory. Venus set almost simultaneously with the Sun. In northern latitudes, it was difficult to find it in the sky until November. But now everything has changed. And the planet is easy to spot in the south-southwestern part of the sky, relatively low above the horizon, even before sunset. And with the onset of evening twilight, Venus literally shines dazzlingly.
And although the favorable period of the evening visibility of Venus will not last long - in early January it will overstep into the morning sky, we have at least three weeks to enjoy its beauty. And there is a wonderful reason to talk about Venus as an astronomical object.
Since ancient times, and maybe even earlier, this luminary has been very popular. Among the ancient Greeks, a bright star-like object, visible in the morning or in the evening against the background of dawn, was associated with two characters - the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite, but also with the companion and harbinger of the morning dawn - Eos Foros. The more familiar name Venus came to astronomy from the Roman pantheon of gods - in it this name also belonged to the goddess of love.
Friends, I have updated one of my most melodic albums ... oh well — this is my most mystical album — «The land of hopes and trials» — it was completely composed in the Crimea — in the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. There are strange places on our planet — anomalous zones, places of power. The Crimean Observatory is one of the most mysterious places of power — it is even mapped, and this is not a joke. How many times I went there, I always had special melodies — right there. At first I took a telescope and a camera with me. And then I began to take a synthesizer with me. This album was completely and very quickly written at the Observatory. There is simply a creative volcano erupting among mountain rivers and valleys. I tried my best to express this in music.
What has changed in the release now?
I have added the whole album as a whole unseparated track.
Friends, many of you have already heard and even someone bought my new live album «Music of Celestial Spheres. Leap into the future». Do you want to watch the full video?
The recording is scheduled to air 19 November 2021 — 19:00 (London time) on the Youtube channel of NEANE Records (the label on which the album was released). You just need to go to the channel and subscribe:
Friends, recently I had a concert «Music of Celestial Spheres. Leap into the future» and we recorded it. The recording of this concert has been released as a live album. The album actually became a collection of my best works, but the difference from the usual collection is that it is a live performance of electronic music. And each melody sounds here in a new version. The transitions between the tracks turned out very well - like the concert, this album has continuous sounding - more than 80 minutes - one melody conceptually transitions into another.
