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- Holly Harrison
Flash Point (2017)
(for amplified shakuhachi and string quartet )- Wise Music G. Schirmer Australia Pty Ltd (World)
Commissioned and first performed by Riley Lee and Enigma Quartet as part of the Five Elements project
Programme Note
Flash Point refers to the lowest temperature at which a liquid will ignite when exposed to a flame, even if briefly. Written in three movements, the outer sections capture the ferocity of fire through unrelenting rhythms, continually working towards an ignition point, before pulling back again. Free-time shakuhachi moments are embedded throughout, which appear as a kind of slow-motion pull against the driving strings. The inner movement experiments with the idea of stillness after combustion: this is heard as a mournful shakuhachi solo, underpinned by simmering and crackling percussive sounds. Flash point is ultimately hit in the final bars of the work, culminating with a breathless finish.
While writing the piece, it struck me that the interplay between shakuhachi and string quartet was similar to that of lead guitar and rhythm guitar, and so some guitar techniques (e.g. playing with plectrums and tapping) spill over into the string quartet soundworld.
Holly Harrison
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Reviews
Holly Harrison has a truly unique sound that straddles her love of a range of genres. Flash Point demonstrates her eclecticism.
Next came Flash Point by Holly Harrison, fast and dynamic with its emphatic strident opening. Lee had a sharp spiky rather jumpy solo. This work was unusual because of the whirling percussive elements and sounds, with the Quartet knocking on the back of their instruments and at one point the instruments are played like a guitar. It all led to a breathless conclusion.
Holly Harrison’s piece, I thought was outstanding. It took me back to ancient Japan to a time simple yet complex, when nature was solace yet also harsh and unyielding.