Figures are strung like a row of beads along a long, taught rope - they are hoisting a gigantic tank into position.
The new Cheltenham, and the modern business that jumping has become, is represented by runners from the three-figure strings of Paul Nicholls, Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson.
Other string theorists, however, suspect that the huge number of solutions merely reflects the immature nature of the theory at present. Figure 2. String theory currently predicts a potential "landscape" of some 10500 universes.
Sometimes there is an almost Shakespearean variety of emphasis, a caustic playfulness in the nagging figures for strings.
Burbling, swirling figures for strings and winds keep the piece moving, yet there is also a subdued quality that keeps the balance tilted more toward serenade than scherzo.
One consequence was a new and unexpected proof of a conjecture of Edward Witten (a 1990 Fields Medalist), one of the leading figures in string theory.
In the work's first movement, "Coastline With Figures," the strings play wavelike, rocking figures as the piano roams through a vaguely pentatonic-sounding melody in octaves that also "spells" the names of friends of Ms. Liu's.
Much of the action — light but detailed percussion figures, darting string and woodwind lines — is woven through a shimmering, harmonically nebulous chord that splinters into lively rhythmic counterpoint in the work's final moments.
Mr. Glass's score mixes mildly angular vocal lines into his signature torrent of swirling woodwind figures and string arpeggios, and it relies more heavily than usual on varied, assertive percussion textures and rich choral writing.
In Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 2, as biting brass figures; shapely string and woodwind passages; dark, angst-ridden chordal writing; and brisk contrapuntal dialogues all competed for attention, every instrumental line shone through clearly.
