The Aureole Effect

 
The Aureole Effect
The Aureole Effect is a work inspired by the visual phenomenon of the same name where sparkling light and dark rays emanate from the shadow of a viewer’s head. This effect can only be observed when a person stands over a rippling water surface with direct sunlight shining from behind. The waves in the water act as lenses which focus and defocus sunlight. Interestingly, the phenomenon can only be seen by the viewer, radiating from their own head’s shadow.
In The Aureole Effect, the focusing and defocusing of light is illustrated by the pitch bending, usually in the lower register. This pitch bending moves the fundamental of a harmony in and out of phase with the overtones above (usually played by the first and second violins). The shimmering upper natural harmonics are meant to evoke the sparkling dark and light rays of light which occur on the water’s surface. These rays of light emanate from the quartet, as if the quartet was, in itself, the sparkling surface of the water. The viewers, or in this case, the listeners, can only truly observe this phenomenon, similar to the aureole effect, as the individuals on whom the light shines.