VIDEO PREMIERE: Spektral Quartet’s “Hack” by Chris Fisher-Lochhead

by Maggie Stapleton

Spektral Quartet

Spektral Quartet – photo credit: Drew Reynolds

We are thrilled to present the video premiere of Hack by Chris Fisher-Lochhead! This is an amuse-bouche (literally) for Spektral Quartet’s upcoming album, Serious Businessfeaturing three world premieres (and one not-world-premiere by Haydn), all thematically centered around humor in classical music.

Hack (2015) takes painstaking transcriptions of bits from famous stand-up comedians (including Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield, Kumail Nanjiani, Richard Pryor, and many more) as the piece’s launch point, and mines the nonverbal elements of humor: cadence, pitch, and timing. The staggering score is by turns rapturous, heady, and hyperkinetic.

Serious Business is released on January 29 on Sono Luminus. Stay tuned for Second Inversion’s album review!

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