Classical Ben Lunn
Lotus and Lightning (2016)

Performed by Composer (Piano) and Agne Matuleviciute (Magnets)

Lotus and Lightning comes from the Tantric metaphor describing sex. The female is the Lotus (emptiness) and the male is Lightning (vajra) the two combined have the spark of enlightenment.

The metaphor is not just smut, the focus is about the fact that all things are an opportunity for enlightenment, and if you approach sex in a way that isn't just mean lust, you can experience as sensation far greater and far more permanent than sex.

This metaphor is translated into the duo for piano and magnets quite simply, the magnets are the lotus, due to not having direct contact with the strings. The piano keyboard is the lightning as it strikes the strings. The two together try to find something greater.

'Lotus and lightning is a contrast between sexual opposites, combining piano solo with electronics in a manner which totally confounds any suggestion of eroticism and instead brings a profound spiritual quality to the music. The score is far from clear in its expression of what precisely the musical relationship between the two soloists should be, but since the composer is himself the pianist here we must assume that the performance here is what he expects. In many ways the improvisatory impression is the most attractive of all the music here without teetering over the border into ‘new age-y’ vagueness. It is clear that the composer’s style continues to evolve, and his insistence in placing the avant garde gestures (which in so many modern composers substitute for real invention) into a purposeful context continues to impress, as does his innate understanding of the techniques of the instruments and players for whom he writes. ..' - P.C.G - MusicWeb International