We first encountered Nainita Desai in 2021 as the composer of The Reason I Jump, one of our top film scores of that year. Now she has composed the score for what may be one of the greatest light installations ever. Tesselation: Original Soundtrack to Fiber Optic Symphony Orchestra will accompany Bruce Munro’s 32 columns of light, debuting this week at Sensorio Paso Robles in California. In person, attendees will hear the music play “in time,” each note represented by a different color, a synesthete’s dream come true. Once the music and lights are experienced in tandem, it will be impossible to separate the two, so we are privileged to first cover the music on its own.
As expected, the score is grand and symphonic, as befits a project of this stature. The opening “Spiral” starts like a warmup as the instruments tune and the attendees walk into the display. Within the first minute, the orchestra finds its bearings, a gorgeous violin line aloft as bass drums anchor the journey. One can already hear in the flutes a sense of wonder, the soaring strings an impression of majesty. Close one’s eyes, and one may even be able to imagine the lights flashing with every note, each orchestral section geographically located within the installation. Rising to a major chord and ending in a boom, the overture sets us up for the rest of the album or the walk.
Now the composer feels free to grow playful and intimate, “Unravelling Waves” a flirtation of orchestral elements, akin to an animated romance. Glissandos are offset by twinkling keys. The attendee is enchanted by music and light. The individual notes at the beginning of “Synchronicity” hint at their use in the installation; one imagines lights flashing on and off, gentle as fireflies. The track is decorated by wordless voice, piano and strings dueting like children playing in a field. In the following piece, the voice becomes a flashing instrument, a Lite-Brite of notes building to the wide angle crescendos of “Constellations,” one at the center and another at the end.
While it would be impossible to replicate the sensory experience at home with sound activated lights, candles would seem fitting. The music is warm, welcoming and wondrous, exuding what might even be considered a holiday feel. The closing piece, “One Point Six One Eight,” refers to the golden ratio, underlining Desai’s fascination with mathematics. In Tesselations, she seems to have found her perfect project. When the snares fall silent and the horns no longer blow, the lights end the dance; but whenever one plays this music, one may see them again, and should one witness a spectrum of lights, one may hear again the music of the spheres. (Richard Allen)
Available here