I find crystals to be fascinating cultural, mathematical, and material objects. Growing in a specific environment from a minuscule kernel in fractal fashion, they expand in symmetrical, repeating layers of atoms whose formations are defined in exactly 230 configurations (space groups). Culturally, they are aesthetically revered in jewelry and decor, and find their way into New Age and ancient mystical practices, with different crystal formations (and even colors) purported to have spiritual, mental, and health effects. In a very different context, the piezoelectric properties of crystals are essential to the development of technology since the 20th century: crystal radios, quartz clocks, and most recently, through the billions of electrical pathways traced in silica crystals in every digital computer.
This diverse, massive scope made this composition difficult to complete, as I found myself wanting to explore each of these facets through spatialized sound. I was able to complete the work by hanging on to two threads: first, crystals as embodiment of personal perfectionism, error, and the consequences of choice; the beauty in imperfection, wabi-sabi, and second, incorporating the sounds of telecommunications technologies; the history of which, without crystals, would be quite short indeed.
This work utilizes custom digital physical models of crystals for sound generation, recordings of the underground Glacier Garden in Lucerne, Switzerland, and of percussionist Ross Karre performing a set of glasses and crystals. A custom sound spatialization software, Kristall Motion Map, was created for this work in collaboration with Johannes Schütt while I was in residency at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zürich University of the Arts in Summer 2026.
This work has four sections:
I. Residence (Swarm & Emergence)
II. Recurrence (Aggregation & Loops)
III. Resonance (Clarity & Imperfection)
IV. Resolution (Defect & Annihilation)