Matthew CochranGuitarist and composer

Compositions

Cover of Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot

Suite for two guitars, after Carl Sagan

Two guitars

Duration
18 min
Level
Advanced
Movements
I. You Are Here
II. Voyager
III. Sacred Black
IV. Routine Interplanetary Violence
V. Aberrations of Light
Premiere
Cochran & McAllister, Mabry Concert Hall, Austin Peay State University Guitar Festival, 19 March 2024
Dedication
Matthew McAllister
Publisher
Sacred Black Publications, SBP 2503

$32PDF score and parts

Buy the score

About the music

Pale Blue Dot is an eighteen-minute suite for two guitars after the astronomer, writer and science advocate Carl Sagan. It is dedicated to Matthew McAllister, and has become one of Cochran & McAllister’s most requested works.

The five movements, You Are Here, Voyager, Sacred Black, Routine Interplanetary Violence and Aberrations of Light, take their cue from Sagan’s reflections on the photograph of Earth taken by Voyager 1 from the edge of the solar system.

Cochran & McAllister premiered the suite at the Austin Peay State University Guitar Festival in March 2024 and recorded it as the title work of their debut album on Sacred Black Records. They have since performed it in the United States, Scotland, Austria and Iceland, including in a multimedia show with projected images of space.

Listen: Pale Blue Dot — Cochran & McAllister (Sacred Black Records)

What people are saying

“The album begins with a beautiful five movement duo composition by Cochran inspired by space and time.”

Bradford Werner, This is Classical Guitar
Cochran & McAllister performing in front of projected images of space
Cochran & McAllister perform Pale Blue Dot in their multimedia show.

Sample pages

Look through the writing before you buy. For a full perusal copy, get in touch.

Pale Blue Dot, sample page 1Pale Blue Dot, sample page 2

Performances

  • — Cochran & McAllister, Settlement Music School, Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street, Philadelphia, PA
  • — Cochran & McAllister, Zlock Performing Arts Center, 275 Swamp Road, Newtown, PA
  • — Cochran & McAllister, Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA
  • — Cochran & McAllister with the Magma Guitar Duo, Harpa, Reykjavík, Iceland
  • — Cochran & McAllister, Hallein International Guitar Festival, Hallein, Austria
  • — Cochran & McAllister, Crail Festival, Crail, Scotland
  • — Cochran & McAllister, Austin Peay State University Guitar Festival, Mabry Concert Hall, Clarksville, TN