In search of synchresis: an examination of compositional approaches in new audiovisual works for solo electric guitar and visual projections

ABSTRACT This paper examines the interaction of sound and vision in audiovisual works for solo electric guitar, providing an overview of existing compositions before exploring in depth the approaches utilised in two new works commissioned by the author. Multimedia works which combine sound and vision represent a minority of the contemporary western art music repertoire, and are rarer still in works involving the electric guitar. The use of visuals in the small literature of audiovisual works for solo electric guitar varies widely, ranging from pre-recorded videos which simply play back over the course of a performance with no temporal alignment between sound and vision, to complex lighting mechanisms which respond to the music in real-time with clear parameter mapping. The bulk of the repertoire, however, demonstrates limited gestural synchronisation between the two media, with composers creating audiovisual cohesion through extra-temporal means. The works commissioned by the author – Svart-Hvít Ský á Himni by Icelandic composer Gulli Björnsson, and especially Akrasia by Australian composer Victor Arul – run counter to this trend, situating them as outliers which push the boundaries of parametric mapping in the repertoire for solo electric guitar and visuals.