Recording: Music in the Barns

Artist: Music in the Barns

Song: Schoolhouse Étude [from Hitchcock Études – composer Nicole Lizée]

Recorded at Jam Factory, July 13, 2014.

Music in the Barns - Schoolhouse Étude

Full review to follow. If there were a "star system" for composers in this country, Nicole Lizée would probably be a household name by how. Combining compositional chops, a forward-thinking approach to new ways of making music and a pop-culture referencing ability to tap into the zeitgeist, her works are "serious music" that are still easily accessible outside the cloisters of the "new music" community.

Her Hitchcock Études were originally composed for "piano, glitch and film", and are here essayed by the Music in the Barns ensemble, in a string quartet plus vibes formation. The music feeds off the manipulations of the source material, enfolding little lurches and hiccups in a tribute to the composer's memories of rewatching Hitchcock movies on slowly-wearing-out videotapes. [The original piano version is embedded below for comparison, and should serve to show how the visual element works here. You can check out a couple more clips on her videos page.]