The Financial Symphony
For Sage, with Axicom
In the Financial Symphony, we turned eleven years of anonymised business data from the UK, US, France and South Africa into a piece for live string quartet and electronics. The rhythm and volume of the strings, and every electronic pulse, are driven by the data.
How it works
Each bar of the string quartet is one financial quarter, from Q1 2015 to Q1 2026, at a steady 52 beats per minute.
Payment speed sets the rhythm. Each quarter’s average time to pay an invoice falls into one of nine bands, each with its own rhythm: the faster businesses paid, the shorter the opening note and the busier the bar.
Invoice size sets the volume, across six levels from pianissimo to fortissimo.
Underneath, three electronic pulses track payroll in South Africa and France and payouts in the US.
Duncan recorded the percussion – taps, clicks, knocks and thuds – by hand in the studio.
Miriam composed the string parts by hand, on paper, and tested them on the violin before she scored them.
Credits
Music: composed and produced by Loud Numbers (Miriam Quick and Duncan Geere).
Strings: Simon Hewitt Jones, Coco Azoitei, Judit Keleman, Hannah Lewis.
Mix and master: Richie Acasuso. Recorded at Ten87 Studios, London.
Video: Westbound Films.
Client: Created with Axicom for Sage.
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