Original Works
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DURATION
23.5 minutesINSTRUMENTATION
Voice, Cello, Fixed ElectronicsPREMIERE
4/12/23 at FourthWall Arts in the Brisbane Music FestivalCREATIVE TEAM
Alex Raineri | Concept and Composition
Finnian Idris | Electronics
Jenna Robertson | Voice and Interpretation
Daniel Shearer | Cello and InterpretationABOUT
Staged is a new work for voice, cello and fixed electronics. The premise of the work is to invite the audience beyond the fourth wall, to step inside the psychosis of the performative persona. Eight brief movements set a libretto quilted from anonymous artists anxiety dreams. These words serve as provocations for you, the audience, to enter our world - the world of the stage. This work is deeply collaborative. Musical material is gestural and semi-improvised.The score exists in instruction format, and distinctly bears the mark of the performers temperaments. Electronics are fixed, and serve as a sonic bed for the live performers to react to and engage with. Think of the electronics as the ‘greek chorus’, an 'absent other' that guides the narrative of the work.
The work exists in its current guise through the collaborative workings of the four person creative team. The work is a flexible entity, different performers would yield an entirely different interpretation.
FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The commission of Staged is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Jenna Robertson + Daniel Shearer at Brisbane Music Festival 4/12/23 -
DURATION
6 minutesINSTRUMENTATION
Solo PianoPREMIERE
29/10/22 at Holy Trinity Hall in the Brisbane Music FestivalABOUT
Inspired by a poem by Ella Jeffery of the same name, 'A history of blue' was composed as a response to the authors powerful words, supported by collaborative discussion between composer and poet. The work comes from ‘When We Speak’, co-presented by Brisbane Writers Festival and Brisbane Music Festival.FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The commission of A history of blue is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Alex Raineri at Brisbane Music Festival 29/10/22 -
DURATION
7 minutesINSTRUMENTATION
Solo PianoPREMIERE
2/7/22 at Salvation Army Brisbane City Temple at the Brisbane Music FestivalABOUT
Young Alex used to compose quite a lot. It's a creative dimension of my practice that I have shelved for quite some time while I focus on other things. Now, I am very slowly starting to pick it up again. This work is more of a re-composition rather than an original work. It takes one of my favourite pieces of music, Dido's heartbreaking lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and subjects it to a twisty timbral and harmonic re-rendering. I like Purcell's 'Dido' so much that it almost feels like a guilty pleasure. In writing ...after Dido..., I aim to conquer that silly sentiment. It is a work for live + absent pianist (meaning, it is for live performer and pre-recorded sounds). Every wondrous and strange sound you hear in the track has been created on the piano by using fishing wire, metal chopsticks and plucking the strings like a harp. This piece does not have illusions of grandeur, it serves as a vehicle for my re-entry into the world of composition. I hope you enjoy it.FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The commission of …after Dido… is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Alex Raineri at Opera Queensland’s Studio Series 8+9/3/24
Alex Raineri at Port Fairy Spring Music Festival 14/10/23
Alex Raineri at Macedon Music 23/4/23
Alex Raineri at Brisbane Music Festival 2/7/22 -
DURATION
4 minutesINSTRUMENTATION
String Quartet and HarpsichordPREMIERE
24/4/21 at St Mary’s Anglican Church at the Brisbane Music FestivalABOUT
Musings upon ‘Chants for the Celestial Hierarchy’ by Hildegard von Bingen.The concert program in which this work was featured included several Baroque pieces. In an attempt to reset the audiences listening palate between works, I composed four very brief musical rambles to precede each, acting as an aural palate cleanser.
In writing these I have taken inspiration from the vocal chant music of 12th century composer, mystic, and visionary, Hildegard von Bingen. Her music is soothing and reverential. I often turn to this it in order to declutter my mind.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Rebekah Hall, Julia Hill, Harry Swainston, Shuhei Lawson and Alex Raineri at Brisbane Music Festival 24/4/21 -
DURATION
1 minuteINSTRUMENTATION
Solo Piano with Contemporary DancePREMIERE
29/11 + 1/12 2019 at the Judith Wright Centre at the Brisbane Music FestivalABOUT
As is often the case with freelance artists, the better part of my year has been spent on the road. An unavoidable facet of this travel schedule is an inordinate amount of time spent in airports (not my favourite places).Lately I have been trying to find a way to maximize comfort and productivity in these uncomfortable, unpleasant situations. In an attempt to be mindful, I have tried to commune with a state of meditative resonance in these situations. Being transitory has started to become a second ‘home’ for me. It’s nice to feel a sense of grounded-ness, even within the process of journeying.
My extremely short work is derived from sonic experiences in airports around the world.
I’ve abstracted the sounds of - the chaotic chatter of large crowds, the click-clack of restaurant cutlery as people eat strange things at strange times of day, the incessant drone of pop music blaring from the jungle of commercial stores, the screech of an old buggy whizzing past, the magical flutter of Singapore’s butterfly garden and finally, the deafening silence when you hit the ‘on’ button of your noise-cancelling headphones…
FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The commission of Resonate is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Alex Raineri + Katina Olsen at Brisbane Music Festival 29/11 + 1/12 2019