"Years" by Bartholomäus Traubeck

Bartholomäus Traubeck, a German artist working in Rotterdam, has produced a work of ethereal beauty. Using “modified turntable, computer, vvvv, camera, acrylic glass, veneer” his creation translates tree rings into piano music.

The turntable uses light to read the rings, then transfers the data to software which interprets it according to a predetermined relationship between “the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture).”

What emerges then is strangely moving.

How ironic, that trees must perish to bring such a thing of beauty to life. Yet that irony is omnipresent. Every wood-framed masterpiece of architecture requires the death of trees. The flowing lines of furniture, the grace of wooden boats, the nostalgic crack of bat on ball and the dance of fire within an inglenook all rise from the death of trees. But beauty from the ugliness of death should surprise no Christian; for as it is with trees, so it is with us. After all:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”

When you click on the link above to enjoy the songs of trees, consider what it truly means to be born again. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. And then . . .

Music in the heavens, forevermore.