Nebula: The very beginning.
Initially, there’s chaos and uncertainty because something
new has suddenly arisen. After this, it’s a celebration, since a
luminous being of light has arisen from the ashes of another.
The entire piece begins with the tanpura (a musical
instrument which is always present in Carnatic music) set
in G accompanied by the introduction of the poem, Stellar
Evolution. Immediately after, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in
D Minor takes over to show the initial chaos associated
with stellar formation. This is one of Bach's masterpieces
and is an eerie sounding piece played on the organ.
After the early disarray, there’s elation and peace.
To bring the emotion about associated with this formation, Manavyalakincharadate, a song set in the ragam Nalinakaanthi plays which conveys the happiness. Since the nebula stage is the beginning of the star’s life, the Carnatic song welcomes this. Both of these melodies express the beginning of something while capturing both the joy and slight uncertainty associated with a stage like this.
Protostar: Rapidity and Heat
The next stage is characterized by extremely high speeds and temperatures as the gaseous hydrogen within begins spinning. faster and faster till it reaches the critical temperature of 10 million Kelvin, so that fusion can occur.
The carnatic piece fades out with only the percussion backing track still audible while the next line of the poem is recited followed by a fusion of Vivaldi's Presto from Four Seasons and Muthai Tharu Bhakti, set in the Shanmukhapriya ragam. Presto is the embodiment of a Western classical fast-paced piece and Shanmukhapriya is its Carnatic equivalent. Introduced by Muthai Tharu Bhakti, leading to Presto and concluding with the chorus of Muthai Tharu, they mesh together to represent the rapidity of the protostar stage.
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Main Sequence Star: Hope, Prosperity and Happiness
Fusion has now started, providing the star with all it needs to spread light and hope all across the galaxy. The star shines brightest here, for the longest time and without any change in its radiance. This is truly the most significant and 'happy' stage of the star's life and is a five billion year festival that celebrates everything that is good in the universe.
Raghuvamsa Sudha, a song set in the Kathanakuthukulam ragam, kicks off this beautiful stage to mark the sheer joy and ecstasy of light being so ubiquitious thanks to this star. This ragam is extremely upbeat and is an integral part of all celebrations in Southern India. It makes the listener happy and fills his heart with joy.
We are on a high, but we go even higher with the prelude of the Star Wars following Raghuvamsa Sudha. The prelude to the Star Wars Suite, is an orchestral piece which combines the best of all the sections of the orchestra starting off with a bang! This piece again instantly brings absolute joy to not just Star Wars fans, but music lovers alike. The Kathanakuthukulam ragam and Star Wars fuse extremely well and embody all the light and hope the main sequence star spreads.
Red Supergiant: Expansion and Cooling
The core of the star is now becoming smaller and
the outer layers begin to expand, cool and simmer down.
Temperature is lower and shine less bright. However, this
state is an unstable one for the star and cannot be sustained.
This stage is completely characterized by just one Carnatic
piece; Bho Shambho set in the intense Revathy ragam.
The cooler emotion of this stage is brought out by the
saxophone while the instability is expressed through the
percussion. The juxtaposition between relaxation and entropy
comes out because of these instruments complementing
each other to best express both these processes.
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Supernova: BOOM!
The star comes to its most violent stage with all its elements coming together in the biggest explosion in the universe! There is no more power left and all that's left is for it to end its life in spectacular fashion.
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This entire stage is also characterized by just Lux Aeterna, an orchestral composition which is the penultimate piece in the movie, Requeim for a Dream's soundtrack. It is an extremely powerful composition, conveying not happiness through its wind section, but melancholy. The supernova goes through a series of steps before exploding. Similarly, this song builds up to a loud and explosive finale.
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Black Hole: Tenebris Aeterna
The star was a being of eternal light but has now lost all its
light and shifts into a lightless being, with no hope and eternal
darkness. Despite losing all its radiance however, it has now
become the strongest object in the universe and
everything is subordinate to it.
The supernova was expressed through the piece Lux Aeterna,
meaning eternal light, but the supernova is in a state of
Tenebris Aeterna, meaning eternal darkness. This tenebris
is expressed by a song set in the Natabhairavi ragam
followed by the theme of the movie, Schindler's List.
They are both played on the violin and both of them
mesh together to bring about both the sadness and
lack of hope associated with a black hole and its magnificent power. The Natabhairavi ragam conveys sombre devotion while Schindler's List conveys absolute despair.
The entire piece concludes with the line,
"Sans light, sans escape, sans information, sans everything..."
