The German novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) once said that architecture is "frozen music." In architecture, a frieze refers to a horizontal band of decorative images found along the top of a wall that are usually a set of variations on a single theme. Commissioned by cellist Bob Jesselson and pianist Charles Fugo on the thirtieth anniversary of the Jesselson/Fugo Duo, Frieze (2011) explores musical analogues of mathematical frieze groups, symmetric line patterns on a two-dimensional surface that infinitely repeat in a single direction. These patterns are mapped into the pitch and time domains to create gestures that serve as the basis of the work.
I. | Molecular Presentation | 0:40 |
II. | Mosaic | 1:45 |
III. | Constructed Resonance | 1:40 |
IV. | Identity | 2:25 |
V. | Lattice | 1:36 |
VI. | Jump | 1:13 |
VII. | Translation | 1:00 |
D U R A T I O N : | 10:19 |
Links
Campbell, MacGregor. "Frieze and Wallpaper Groups," in MATHematics Illuminated. {Annenberg/Learner}
Anneke Bart and Bryan Clair, Math and the Art of M. C. Escher. {euler.slu.edu}
Updated: January 26, 2016