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WHAT would our understanding of music be like if composers had routinely created works for scent as well as sound? At the turn of the 20th century, artists were combining the senses to imagine “total” artworks. Visual artist Wassily Kandinsky was painting the music he experienced, while composer Alexander Scriabin was adding directions for coloured lighting in his 1910 score for – a work I have been collaborating on with the San Francisco Symphony.

In dialogue with the orchestra’s music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and piano soloist, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, we discussed the idea that Scriabin was unable…