Surface Patterns from Surface Patterns by Jonathan Nangle

Surface Patterns
solo piano (2020)

In 1787 Ernst Chladni published his book Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges ("Discoveries in the Theory of Sound"), in which he detailed his experiment for the visualisation of nodal patterns on a surface.

This involved drawing a bow over a piece of metal whose surface was lightly covered with sand. The plate was bowed until it reached resonance when the vibration causes the sand to move and concentrate along the nodal lines where the surface is still, outlining the nodal lines. The patterns formed by these lines are what are now called Chladni figures. Different resonant frequencies create different visual patterns.

It was these surface patterns and the ways in which they shift between resonant frequencies that inspired this piece. This, in turn, led me to think about other surface patterns, such as those created by wind and rain on sand or the surface of water and how these natural phenomena might be represented through music.

Surface Patterns was commissioned by New Music Dublin 2020 in association with the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Tracklist