Synaesthesia – in this case a crossover between seeing and hearing, light and music. There are  many of examples of this, at least on the music side, Scriabin’s Poem of Fire (its score includes a colour organ) and Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité Céleste are among the famous examples.

— “I’ve tried to get into my work the colours mentioned in the Apocalypse, and I don’t think I’ve ever gone so far with the sound colour relationship. The brass should, so to speak, “play red,” the woodwinds should “play blue,” and so forth” 

Olivier Messiaen

Harmony, of course, plays a vitally important part in creating these sonic ‘lights’ and ‘colours’

So, without further ado, fiat lux! Let there be light!

(watch the volume level on this one!)

Royal Concertgebouw, Mariss Jansons

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