Centaurus
Centaur
Enlightenment
The constellation Centaurus extends across a large area along the Milky Way and contains two first-magnitude stars, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Alpha Centauri, in particular, is the nearest first-magnitude star to Earth. In Japan, however, it is said to be visible only from as far south as the southern tip of Kyushu.
A centaur is a mythical creature with the lower body of a horse.
A centaur is a mythical creature with the lower body of a horse.
Sisask’s detailed constellation chart marks the locations of ten galaxies within the region of Centaurus. I searched the NASA image archives for each of them and found images of three. The two stars represented by the large black dots are Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri.
The opening image shows NGC 5128, Centaurus A, the closest active galaxy to Earth, about 11 million light-years away. It is classified as an elliptical galaxy. An active galaxy is a galaxy in which matter falls into a supermassive black hole at its centre, causing powerful electromagnetic radiation to be emitted from the surrounding region. Centaurus A acquired its unusual shape through a collision and merger with another galaxy, and emits powerful radio waves.
Shining at the centre of the night sky in this beautiful image, entitled “From Alpha to Omega in Crete,” is NGC 5139, Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky. The faint glow above Omega Centauri is Centaurus A. The image below is a close-up view of Omega Centauri.
Omega Centauri is said to be packed with about 10 million stars, many of which are known to be older than the Sun.
Although they were composed after Starry Sky Cycle – Southern Sky, Sisask’s works include Alpha & Omega – The Birth of the Universe for Cello Solo, Op. 70 (1999), and Ω-Centauri for Flute or Oboe and Piano, Op. 93 (2004). These works must surely have grown out of his fascination with Alpha and Omega, and when composing Centaurus, he may well have had these celestial objects in mind.
This is NGC 4945, a barred spiral galaxy in the region of Centaurus. It is said to be similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy in both size and appearance. At its centre lies a supermassive black hole that releases an enormous amount of energy.
Sisask’s image for Centaurus is “Enlightenment.
Centaurus has led us into an astonishing world that could never be imagined from the name of the constellation alone. And so it is with the other constellations: the very process of seeking out what lies within each constellation’s region is full of discoveries that are truly “enlightening.”
Sisask’s music for Centaurus is filled with transparency, with the upper and lower registers blending beautifully. From the fifth measure onward, the score is written on three staves, with the two upper staves played in unison (in octaves) by the right and left hands. I cannot help feeling that this represents the two first-magnitude stars of Centaurus, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Passages that appear from time to time seem to sparkle like meteors.
On the lowest staff, Sisask indicates an inside-the-piano technique: the performer holds down a string with a finger while gently repeating the corresponding key, then slides the finger farther along the string while continuing the repeated notes, changing their tone colour.
At the end of the piece, some notes are written with ×-shaped noteheads (see the musical example below). These are marked “Play without sound,” meaning that the performer makes the gesture of playing the notes without actually sounding them. For the note B (H), marked “Mute current string,” the key is played while the corresponding string is held down with a finger.
The resulting sound is like a gentle knock on a door into the universe... It becomes almost impossible to tell what kind of sound we are hearing, giving the music of Centaurus a sense of endlessly receding depth.
On the lowest staff, Sisask indicates an inside-the-piano technique: the performer holds down a string with a finger while gently repeating the corresponding key, then slides the finger farther along the string while continuing the repeated notes, changing their tone colour.
At the end of the piece, some notes are written with ×-shaped noteheads (see the musical example below). These are marked “Play without sound,” meaning that the performer makes the gesture of playing the notes without actually sounding them. For the note B (H), marked “Mute current string,” the key is played while the corresponding string is held down with a finger.
The resulting sound is like a gentle knock on a door into the universe... It becomes almost impossible to tell what kind of sound we are hearing, giving the music of Centaurus a sense of endlessly receding depth.
I believe that Sisask preserved in his music the precious memories he gained from observing celestial objects firsthand—memories that were not mere records, but were captured through all his senses.
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