Interviews
2015 Sundance Trading Card Series: #11. Heather McIntosh (Z for Zachariah)
Heather McIntosh: MaddAddam Trilogy, Margaret Atwood. Volumina for Organ, György Ligeti. Mind Brains (Orange Twin Records)
Lavallee: In Z for Zachariah, Craig Zobel goes from a “Great World of Sound” (pardon the pun) to nothingness. How did you research dystopia, lifeless scapes and survivalism?
McIntosh: The score fits somewhere between pastoral and experimental. Research, I studied a lot of contemporary organ scores, like the Ligeti one above (not that the score really went that far out).
Lavallee: This is your second outing with Craig, your previous collaboration was the cringe worthy essay on victimization. In terms of instrument selection, what did you sprinkle onto Z?
McIntosh: For Compliance, it was cello driven. For Z for Zachariah, Cello is still there, but there is a larger chamber ensemble sound, pump organ, piano, choral ensemble, French horn, and a as always a sprinkling of electronic ambience.
Lavallee: We heart film scores. We’d like to know what are some overlooked or forgotten film scores that are worth a listen/discovering?
McIntosh: The Conversation, David Shire. The Hired hand, Bruce Langhorne. Anything by Toru Takemitsu (Dodes’kaden is a goodie). Solaris, Eduard Artemiev. Andrzej Korzynski, Secret Enigma (Compilation of his film works and other rare gems).
