Lapse
Duo for violin and violoncello
Premiered by Rachael Kwa and Hamish Jamieson at the Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne.
Commissioned by the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) as part of The ANAM Set for violinist Rachael Kwa. The ANAM Set was funded by the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government Initiative.
Broadcasts
ABC Classic: The ANAM Set Lunchtime Concert October 2022
Program note:
Lapse: to slip, pass or fall gradually.
This piece is about two voices that each as altering points of perception. As one changes, the light upon the other changes with it, and the arc of shadow and stretches of light combine to create new forms akin to floating sculptures.
Music as sculpture is something that I am drawn to, in the sense that that material can become obstacles within a point of space and time. One element can be seen at an angle and viewed again after seeing more of the form, with this process in turn changing our initial perception of an obstacle that otherwise seemed permanent. To lapse is often considered a negative consequence; here, I wanted to present the idea as a doorway – the lapse from one state, entwined with one perception, toward another. It is in the smallest of cracks on a dark surface that we see light at its brightest.
Lapse was written to consider the nature of process and change, embracing a constant flux between two bodies to embody a sense of unity in the layers of perception that define us. The piece was inspired by a reading of Humankind by Rutgar Bregman.