Output details

Dzama Stories, for amplified ensemble, electronics and improvising soloist

Dzama Stories is an extended work of 45 minutes for an amplified ensemble of ten musicians, electronics and improvising soloist, written specifically for Bennett’s own ensemble Decibel. The realization of the work was made possible through an extended residency award granted by the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris and was created in collaboration with the renowned improvising saxophonist Paul Dunmall. The extra-musical inspiration for this work comes from the Canadian visual artist Marcel Dzama, and each of the four movements of the work relates to a specific Dzama painting. Dzama Stories was premiered at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2009 and subsequently recorded and released internationally as a CD in 2010 by Quartz Music (QTZ 2082: submitted with score). It has received broadcasts on several radio stations including RTÉ Lyric FM (Ireland) and BBC Radio 3 (UK).

In composing this work Bennett sought to: (1) investigate the relationship between through-composed and improvised musical material; (2) collaborate with performers from different musical disciplines; (3) explore the possibilities available through the use of amplification and electronic sound; (4) seek an alternative solution to the integration of a soloist in a concerto setting.

Dzama Stories is an original piece of creative work in the field of practice-based composition research; the work in many ways incorporates all aspects of Bennett’s recent artistic output in a more substantial format. The work explores the tension between through-composed and improvised sounds in a non-idiomatic way and attempts to find an alternative way to combine soloist and ensemble and integrate musicians from differing musical traditions. The CD release of Dzama Stories has received critical acclaim at an international level and instigated further interest for similar new work in this area from several renowned performers from the improvised music tradition.