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Apotheosis

from Fall From Earth by Philip Sheppard

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Why 'Fall From Earth'?

I love the idea of losing belief in gravity itself, somehow leaving the surface of this small blue dot and flying higher, further and faster, literally and metaphorically.
Falling from earth is what the god, Hermes did in ancient legend, and by the 1960s we humans transcended to the point where we could leave the earth (via Apollo - Hermes’ half-brother) in order to look back and think, my God, we’re lucky.
I was lucky in 2007 to work directly with all the Apollo astronauts on my first movie, In the Shadow of the Moon, and subsequently the female astronaut candidates of the Mercury 13 programme. I am completely perplexed by the many women and men man in their 20s who are intelligent and brave enough to step off the edge of terra firma.
But stillness is also the key to elevation, and this album is equally about those people who fly without moving a muscle. Those whose flights are of imagination, their ideas flying beyond a mere lifespan.
It’s about that girl who left a negative space paint handprint on a cave wall in Indonesia 40,000 years ago just to say I was here.
Her idea, her handprint will still be there when we are but dust.
If one of these pieces of music can give just one listener goosebumps in the way that Indonesian handprint does for me, then every moment of making this record has been worth it.

Italo Calvino wrote;
“Whenever humanity seems condemned to heaviness, I think I should fly like Perseus into a different space. I don't mean escaping into dreams or into the irrational. I mean that I have to change my approach, look at the world from a different perspective, with a different logic and with fresh methods of cognition and verification…”
This quote is cited in Nick Sousanis’ Unflattening - itself a source of many of the ideas behind the tracks on this album.

Philip Sheppard 2018 ©

Apotheosis

The word apotheosis means many things but in the case of this piece, it's about those peak moments in life when a human being seems to step out of the realm of being mortal and becomes something wondrous.
Through my documentary work, I've been fortunate to meet many people who have stepped beyond the bounds of what appears to be possible, each of their lives defined by single moments of courage - when courage meets preparation and an opportunity.
That moment when somebody chooses to sacrifice everything for the good of others is for me the true meaning of an apotheosis and I suspect that the greatest of these moments are often invisible.

Featuring the English Session Orchestra conducted by Philip Sheppard

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from Fall From Earth, released June 22, 2018

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Philip Sheppard London, UK

Philip Sheppard is an accomplished film composer and virtuoso cellist.
His film soundtracks include In the Shadow of the Moon (winner of the Sundance Film Festival), The Tillman Story, Sergio, Bobby Fischer Against the World amongst many other award-winning films.
He has written for many major orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic. ... more

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