Space Oddity

I’ve been fortunate to be able to collaborate with the Colorado Symphony on a number of arrangements over the years, but this one was truly unique. I arranged a little song called “Space Oddity” by David Bowie for a cute little chamber ensemble, recorded in Denver’s Meow Wolf.

The exact instumentation was a string quintet (including a Double Bass, which was fun), 2 Horns, Flute, Clarinet and, most notably, a Bass Clarinet. As soon as I got the list, I knew it would translate well.

Those of you who are symphonic musicians or fans will note that strings often get to be in the spotlight, but here, with such a delightfully odd little song, I wanted to steer clear of that. Besides, with this instrumentation it made sense to keep the strings on chord duty most of the time anyway. But I did manage to sneak in a cello solo and a little energetic line for 1st Violin.

The real stars here were the winds, though. I gave Bass Clarinet, in particular, quite a lot to do, because it’s got the perfect quirky tone for this kind of song. And the player absolutely smashed it.

Horns also provided a great main melodic device, particularly since there were two of them: exactly the number of main vocal lines in the song (Bowie was overdubbed exactly once). But it also added an air of majesty that lends it naturally to space exploration. I even wrote in a neat little metal mute moment in between the cello solos, which was a fun way to alter their tambre for the lighter section.

This was a delightful little project, and I hope I get to do more stuff like this in the future! It’s fantastic to see classical musicians embracing the new and evolving, and it is always an honor to put charts in front of musicians of this caliber. If you’re dying to hear some audio, check out the video below of the full performance, complete with stunning cinematography and the full score with notes!