For half a century, New Zealand’s legendary and most adventurous contemporary chamber music ensemble, From Scratch, have created performances where sound, image, and invention collide.
This September, they tour nationally with Chamber Music New Zealand, presenting a multimedia programme to stimulate and captivate audiences.
Last year the group celebrated its 50th anniversary. Through the years, From Scratch has performed at prestigious festivals internationally and locally, including the Paris Art Biennale, New York New Music Festival, and Sound-Watch Festival in Tokyo. The group has an impressive range of recordings on film and sound that chart their musical journey.
The CMNZ performance tour will feature one of the classic From Scratch originals, Songs for Unsung Heroes, an extended composition by Phil Dadson that celebrates those lesser known individuals through history who have influenced humanity’s development.
Additionally, they will present three short films by Kiwi filmmakers that the group will accompany on an assortment of surprising and entertaining instruments.
Founded in 1974 by Phil Dadson, the group through the years has developed an international reputation for their original and highly rhythmic compositions.
The group is widely known for its inventive DIY instruments, having built many of their original instruments using industrial and found materials.
The best-known ones are the large racks of acoustic PVC pipe instruments shaped like giant panpipes, which sound a little like bass guitars and electronica. Other instruments such as their ‘sprong’ and ‘nundrum’ use threaded rods and steel springs in unexpected ways.
“Our hope is to immerse the audience in a rich and engaging journey, with an ingredient of magic in the mix of sound an image, so they walk away with an overall feeling of wonder and rhythmic euphoria,” says Dadson.
The films included in the programme are:
• Black Moon, by Teresa Peters, which pulls the viewer into an abstract world of slowly morphing Rorschach imagery.
• Metroplex, by Greg Bennett, an animated dystopian view of the human condition.
• Arcs & Sparks, a montage by Phil Dadson, presents a wry and slightly sinister take on the elementary laws of physics and breath.
Artists:
Phil Dadson
Shane Currey
Chris O’Connor
Adrian Croucher
Darryn Harkness
