Abstract
This essay examines the scientific perspective in composer David Dunn’s recording of nature sound, “The Sound of Light in Trees.” Throughout his career, he has been trying to capture environmental sounds in their original contexts. However according to David Ingram’s analysis, his earlier works had a tendency to idealize nature, and some of their descriptions are problematic. In contrast, the biological perspective introduced into “The Sound of Light in Trees” grounded his imagination on a more realistic understanding of the ecology in trees, putting the sound onto more public and academic contexts. As Dunn claims, such a relationship between art and science can be seen as a practical application of Gregory Bateson’s notion of double description.
