Flash Point (2017)

for amplified shakuhachi and string quartet

Duration: 8’

Commissioned and first performed by Riley Lee and Enigma Quartet as part of the Five Elements project.

Now available to stream or purchase on all streaming platforms

Program 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.

Performances

21 February 2020, Riley Lee and Enigma Quartet, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI

21 April 2019, Riley Lee and Enigma Quartet, Sound Shell, Four Winds Easter Festival,  Barragga Bay, NSW

26 November 2017, Riley Lee and Enigma Quartet, Independent Theatre, Sydney

16 October 2017, Riley Lee and Enigma Quartet, Melba Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, world premiere

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Reviews & Words

Holly Harrison has a truly unique sound that straddles her love of a range of genres. Flash Point demonstrates her eclecticism. This composition performed by Riley Lee on shakuhachi with the Enigma Quartet, focuses on the point at which a liquid becomes ignitable when exposed to a flame. As with the previously described pieces, universal phenomena, their tensions and confluences are persuasively explored in the work. Fire is such a mixed bag. Equal parts playful, menacing, dangerous, comforting, enlightening, warming, controllable, uncontrollable, it is all here. Harrison uses strong, vital rhythmic drive in the first movement, with instruments interweaving individual rhythmic and melodic narratives. The shakuhachi freely uses a range of timbral and pitch-bending techniques incredibly effectively. Fire in charge. Towards the end of the movement, fire seems to run out of its requisite oxygen supply, and the movement finishes with a clever ticking motif on upper strings – plucked with a guitar plectrum – as you do.

This leads to a more contemplative movement called Simmering and Ritualistic, where pizzicato and plectrum induced riffs on upper strings, rhythm remaining at the core, provide the space for shakuhachi to wander lyrically. But this is a more tepid flame, a campfire, with its sustaining warmth and crackling reassurances. The third movement heads towards the inevitable flashpoint and there is a sense of resistance here before the climactic conclusion. It really is a remarkable piece of music, superbly interpreted.

(Mandy Stefanakis, Loudmouth)

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. Full article here.

(John Pollack, Sydney Arts Guide)

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. Full article here.

(Lynne Lancaster, Arts Hub)