Setting the financial crisis to music – from the FT’s Frederick Studeman and Julian Anderson, composer in residence at the London Philharmonic Orchestra. One big challenge Anderson faced was how to capture September, 2008:
One obvious way to symbolise the moment of crash is a dull, almighty thud; another, a quick, descending scale. Prof Anderson opts instead for “the freeze”. The top-of-the-market high note is moved up a notch – then held. Alongside it he launches a series of step-by-step descents using the original chord, which is gradually transposed downward. We are pitched into what composers call a Sheperd curve, an aural spiral of never-ending decline – similar to the endless staircases depicted by Escher – whose lulling rhythm is eerie and surreal.
(HT: Abnormal Returns)
