C O N S T A N T I N E C A R A V A S S
I L I S
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S I C F O R S Y N A E S T H E T E
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Constantine‘s synaesthetic cycle is a collection of musical works especially composed through
(and for) the experience of synaesthesia.
Please visit us as often as you‘d like to check on updates and
learn about Constantine‘s fascinating synesthetic condition an the impact
of this condition in the composer’s life 
and work.
News:
W
o r l d P r e m i e r e o f
Concerto
for Synaesthetes
for 3 solo celli and cello orchestra
___________________
Johan Theorin, vlc
Mats Lindstrom, vlc
Jakob Kullberg, vlc
Open Strings Cello Orchestra
Bjorn Bantock, conductor
Copenhagen‘s Rundentarn
July 26 – 8pm
Composer’s note:
Concerto
for Synaesthetes is a work written as a tribute to my most recent discovery; that of possessing
Synaesthetic abilities. In the past few years, a significant number of my
colleagues have pointed out that experiencing tastes, emotions, seeing colors
and pictures, through music (and sound in general), is clear evidence for a
Synaesthete. I did not consider much of these comments until I came across a
particular combination of pitch classes which created a mesmerizing effect due
to a chemical reaction in the brain.
This effect is a combination of multiple “false” reactions and
results in visual experiences of things that do not in fact exist. In short, Synaesthesia
is a condition found in a small percentage of the population that involves the
crossing of sensory perceptions, such as seeing sound as vision. This condition
is highly personal and individual, and is experienced differently by everyone
possessing it.
I
started researching Synaesthesia extensively, finding that since Skriabin and
Kandinsky this phenomenon is not only widely recognized by scientists but it is
also becoming an important research field for Neurophysiologists who examine
the innumerable functions of the human brain and for Psychologists whose
research focuses on the implications and affects of the phenomenon in the lives
of performers and creators, and in their art at large.
My
intention in the first few bars of this work was to create a sound which
projects a landscape before my eyes as a result of a “Synaesthetic
reaction”, caused (or initiated)
by listening to a particular combination of tones (opening chord). Throughout
the piece, the decisions note-to-note were made in a rather unorthodox fashion;
that of continuing to write music following every piece of the puzzle that
eventually paints every detail of the landscape with photographic precision,
rather than logical decisions that I
would regularly make in order to create clear gestures and perfected form
within a composition.
The
picture that was drawn in my mind was a large sailing boat, afar from the shore
and frozen in time, between icebergs and freezing fog, observed from a distance
roughly estimated at 2 miles.
Note:
This is not to be mistaken with imagination,
since a Synaesthetic picture is more
vivid, with clear detail and it is often combined with motion, the sense of
smell and, less frequently, with emotion.
Paused
human figures appear inside the boat, with no movement whatsoever in the
foreground. The background of this seascape
has a blue tone, mixed with lilac and brown lines, with a few touches of faded
grey and orange circular gestures, reminiscent of those colors of a sun setting
behind light clouds and seems to be moving in a very slow motion, until the
entire picture has faded out (end of the piece). The smell that I experience is
a combination of sea-salt and freshly cut wood, often changing to less intense
smells of mist and sand, and at times more emotionally
intense odors, like those of human flesh and burning charcoal.
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