On the memory of trees

On the memory of trees… (2024) – Composed by Scott Wilson

Performers: The Ligeti Quartet

Recorded March 8/2024, CrossCurrents Festival, Birmingham, UK

This work makes use of data from the University of Birmingham’s MEMBRA project, which explores the ways in which epigenetic ‘memory’ may allow trees to ‘learn’ and retain adaptation strategies in response to stresses such as climatic warming or increased carbon dioxide, and even pass them on to their offspring. Data from the project is used to generate musical material through the process of sonification. This idea of (perhaps imperfect) memory struck me as somehow very musical, and in the piece various small and large scale bits of music come back in strangely altered or adapted forms.