Canthus
Classical guitar duo
Premiered by: Scandinavia Guitar Duo
9th March 2018;
Pulsar Festival, Copenhagen
Performance Note:
Excerpt of Canthus recorded live by the Scandinavian Guitar Duo for Pulsar Festival 2018.
Written as a setting of two eyes seeing slightly distorted images of the same scene. Throughout a human life, the experiences we share and emotions outwardly expressed bloom into permanent expression upon the face of all people; the most interesting being that of the eyes. Canthus is a phase study of duality – where there is constant flux over which voice takes precedence. In form, it is the analysis of a smile, as two lids crinkle together into a state of well experienced reality. Eyes sing through the familiar lines of happiness.
The study of canthus as a phenomenon forms its basis on the interaction of Medieval rhythmic modes. The duality of this piece functions in a number of levels – the first being inter-relations between the two eyes themselves; each being a means of reflection while neither is presented in direct symmetry. The next offers a relation upon the outer and inner corners of the eye, while the third offers a direct interaction between the upper and lower lid of the same eye.
Canthus is a gaze into the space within which two worlds meet yet never directly interact. Together they make form (the pair of human eyes) expression emotions and storing them into the skin. Together, they bloom.
“One eye sees, the other feels.”