The Mantis and the Moon, Phillip Houghton Contra Guitar Duo

The first of Phillip Houghton s Three Duets for guitar duo. Written in 1976, and in two continuous sections, The Mantis and the Moon could be a kind of existential Insect, Lunar ComicTragedy of Whimsical Proportions A short frenetic Scherzo depicts the life of a praying mantis, especially in its incredible movements of swaying around then darting off. The more extended Largo depicts its death in which I imagined the dying mantis seeing the moon and dreaming for the first time, before slowly curling up (represented by the slowly played tremolo fadeout) and all is Phillip Houghton, 1994 Recorded in Friedberg in March 2019 Video and Audio: Jakob Schmidt Guitars: Lance Litchfield (EmmaShay) and Jayson Elazzi (Hamish) Guitar Supports: Guitarlift