Most of us think of a piano trio or string quartet when we hear the term ‘chamber music.’ Montreal composer Nicole Lizée thought turntables, percussion and digital processing — winning her the 2013 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, which comes with a $7,500 cheque.
Oh yes, there’s manual typewriter and toy piano included in the sound mix, as well.
Lizée’s piece, White Label Experiment, was premiered in Toronto a year-and-a-half ago at a Soundstreams concert organized in honour of the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Cage.
“Nicole Lizée’s innovative musical creations perfectly capture Cage’s wit and inventiveness,” said Canada Council head Robert Sirman in the press release. “Our congratulations to Ms. Lizée on winning the 2013 Jules Léger Prize, and bringing a unique sound to chamber music audiences in Canada and internationally.”
The jury of peers who assessed the winning composition noted that, “In White Label Experiment, Ms Lizée has created not only an engaging work of new chamber music, but also one that achieves the highest standards of innovation and excellence, almost entirely without the help of proven chamber music idioms. As such, it represents a triumph of artistic vision supported by masterful skill.”
In other words, this jury loved the fact that this was chamber music that had nothing to do with chamber music as we traditionally know it.
I’m not sure what to think of Lizée’s piece. So I’ll have to listen again, thanks to Soundstreams’ extensive archive of concert recordings at SoundMakers:
John Terauds