{"title":"National Symphony Orchestra","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"so-fragile-so-blue","title":"So Fragile, So Blue","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSo Fragile, So Blue\u003c\/i\u003e is about something we all have in common - this beautiful planet Earth that we all call home. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the core of this project is William Shatner and his remarkable talent for storytelling. In 2021, Shatner made a historic journey into space on Blue Origin’s rocket, New Shepard. Just before the launch, Shatner shared a meal with two old friends, Robert Sharenow and Dan Miller. For many years the trio had written songs together - firstly in person and later over Zoom throughout the pandemic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I met Robert and Dan for dinner and of course began to talk about writing a song about going up into space and made some notes. But then I went up and I came down and then I made some phone calls. One of the phone calls was to Robert and Dan. I said ‘You know, that song we started to write about space? Forget about it. It doesn’t work.” The experience was beyond anything we could have imagined. We have to write a song about it, but it’s not the one we jotted down that Sunday. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “So, we started to write a song, encapsulating, distilling what I experienced going up into space. We called it ‘So Fragile, So Blue’ and it does distil everything I felt and saw.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLater, the songs would take on a new form, thanks to another long-term friend, Ben Folds, who was fascinated by Shatner’s experience going into space. Folds, who is Artistic Advisor at the Kennedy Center, brought new collaborators to the project - the wonderful composer and orchestrator Jherek Bischoff and bluegrass violin virtuoso and composer Gabe Witcher, who wrote original underscoring for the songs to create new orchestral works. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe friends’ creation was brought to life by its final contributors, conductor Steven Reineke and the National Symphony Orchestra, at the Kennedy Center in April 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"National Symphony Orchestra","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":50445330514251,"sku":"2206914","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50445329695051,"sku":"2206913","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/So_Fragile_So_Blue_36fd2689_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727036552"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/national-symphony-orchestra-1.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}