Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Observations: The real sound of Planet Earth

 

Charlotte Philby
Thursday 30 August 2012 09:39 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

If Planet Earth, the acclaimed BBC documentary series that first came to our screens in 2006, taught us one thing, it is that the natural world is endlessly fascinating. It also taught us that a humpback whale calf consumes around 500 litres of milk a day, and that snow leopard cubs aren’t as cute as they look. But as astonishing as the high-definition footage itself was George Fenton’s score, which is now to be heard live.

“The show used, for the first time in natural-history programming, a heligimbal camera, capable of zooming in to give minute detail and then pulling back to give us these long revealing shots. This gave a huge amount of space for the music to fill,” explains Fenton, whose previous credits include Gandhi, The History Boys and Groundhog Day.

“The score had to carry the moment in a way that is unusual in film, because at some points nothing else was happening.

“It also made it a natural progression to bring the music to a concert hall.”

‘Planet Earth in Concert’ tours from 7 to 16 Septembe (www.planetearthinconcert.com)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in