金継ぎ kintsugi (2017) for two shakuhachi
Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as kinsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
I first began composing Kintsugi in 2016 while composing a duo titled Splintered Ringing for my teachers Elizabeth Brown and Ralph Samuelson. The Coda for this composition began with the exploration for rich overtones between complex dyads of enharmonic meri, or dark notes, specifically Ab and G#. Between these two pitches, any number of beautiful sonorities can be explored.
The coda for Splintered Ringing became the foundational materials for Kintsugi. This composition is a meditation on near consonances, flexibility, and vulnerability.
you can purchase the score here