Intersecting Lines
Caroline de LannoyIntersecting lines is a composition for two voices that explores the human voice as a multi-faceted instrument. It is a tonal composition, which involves the coordination of the resonant tone of vowel and consonant sounds. The lyrics are set in a graphic score, along with visuals that instruct the singers how to express and emphasise the words. They contain aesthetic elements describing the tactile qualities of surfaces. The textual word components are whispered, shouted, spoken, and sung.
Meandering through the score, there is an interplay and layering of words—and ever changing symphony of words. The written words take the form of two spirals. They are circular, which means they revolve and repeat. The spirals represent the general flow. Each moves in either direction and represents a return to the same point. One could imagine a moving point circulating in a spiral around a central point. It embodies expansion and contraction made manifest through changes in velocity and the potential for simultaneous movement in either direction towards its extremity. The spiral forms accommodate the dimensions of time and space. They include attributes such as: direction, progress, initiation, expanding, centering, awareness, connection, balance, journeying and development.
The composition can be read not only from left to right but also right to left. The performers are working together, producing a spatial movement, which approximates the structure and rhythms of two spirals. Their roles frequently change between active and passive, almost like wrestlers interchanging positions of dominance as they struggle with one another. Each voice finds its place in the mixture. The words detach themselves, taking on new meanings. In juxtaposition they become music.
Instrumentation: Voices
Duration: Fifteen minutes
Score: Graphic and text on A4 cartridge paper
In 2015, Wolf Notes invited composers and musicians to write a short text about one of their own pieces. A word count of no more than 500-words was the only guidance given.
Caroline de Lannoy is an artist whose practice spans painting, drawing, text, sound, and video, delving deeply into themes of time, space, and perception.