The musical composition is designed for a string quartet and shows how climate change has altered Earth's inherent balance.
“I aim to convey not only environmental issues but also the intricately crafted systems of the Earth and the entire 4.5-billion-year story behind them,” says Nagai, who is a geo-environmental scientist at Rissho University. In a time when global environmental awareness is urgent, Nagai says, “I hope to draw attention to the complexity and magnificent order of the Earth's mechanisms.”The music takes the form of a quartet written for two violins, viola, and cello.
The six-minute piece was played live for the first time in March 2023 at Tokyo’s Waseda University. A filmed performance by Japan’s PRT Quartet was also released onThe idea to sonify data—converting the information into sound—has been used to great effect in other sciences, too. For example, NASA has used the technique to sonify astronomical features including galaxies and nebula.