Soundstreams Commissions

Nicole Lizée’s new work, Hymns to Pareidolia, a Soundstreams commission. Here, the ensemble perform in a musical language that began as Bach, but then was run through a composing filter where it becomes hazy, begins to mutate and stretch. Parts of the score are erased, canons are broken, hockets are damaged, and hisses, hums and a warping of material is created. I ‘zoom in’ on very short excerpts (sometimes just a rhythmic or gestural idea) – they form ‘cells’ for a section – and become stretched, melted and otherwise manipulated. The piece reflects structures found in Bach’s score and imagines how unlikely instruments, including stylophones, omnichords, oscillators and vinyl would work in Baroque practices, such as in basso continuo, canons, chorales, or hockets. The psychological concept of Hymns to Pareidolia invites us to embrace unexpected sensory illusions as familiar.

Performed by:

Members of the Australian Art Orchestra