Rebecca Lloyd Jones and Alex Raineri

The intimate space at Fourth Wall Arts was the perfect venue to appreciate the musical and collaboration skills of Brisbane-based international performer and percussionist, Rebecca Lloyd Jones, and Brisbane-based pianist, Alex Raineri, who has been touring internationally and around Australia of late. These two musical explorers created a one-hour performance of four pieces for piano and percussion. The programme started with Alex’s own composition, ‘Labyrinth’, inspired by the film of the same name. The psychedelic journey of the film’s main character through various dreamscapes, and her power struggle with the Goblin King, were reflected by the edginess of the piece. It featured Alex mainly playing the piano strings by hand, scratching wire against wire, and encouraging the melodic droning of the Tibetan Singing Bowls. Rebecca played the tiny cymbals of the crotales and joined Alex under the piano’s lid to scrape the wires with a plastic shopping bag – which really did create a stormy sound – and other percussion implements, including bursting bubble wrap. This fit the humorous tone of the film and placed the listeners in a suitably surreal space. This was the perfect preparation for Hannah Barnes’s piece, ‘A very short space of time through very short times of space’. This was an Australian premiere of the piece by the Montréal-based composer who Rebecca met at an international music conference. Described by the composer as a work in progress, this was originally a dedicated percussive piece, but had recently added piano keys, fortuitous timing for this eerie and anxiety-filled piece. The music featuring wire-against-wire conflict and an ebow let loose on the piano strings, the crotales, cow bells (hammered and played with a violin bow), bass drum, triangle and a magic vibraphone.

‘Rosewood & Steel’ by Australian composer Alex Turley, a collaborator with a wide range of orchestras and artists including Ali McGregor, Dan Sultan and G Flip, was inspired by the gorgeous tones of the marimba’s rosewood bars and the steel of its resonator pipes, combined with the hammer of the piano strings, and the echoes of each instrument. The effect was soothing and inspiring, drawing listeners in through waves of melody.

The final piece was another Australian premiere, ‘Kisses & Crosses’ by Polish composer, Hanna Kulenty, discovered by Rebecca in an archive as part of her study of women composers. Hanna has described her compositional technique as “polyphony of time dimensions” which fits this intense piece featuring melodic piano contrasted with harsh timbales and bass drum, which when stroked with the felt-topped hammer sounds curiously like whale song.

What I really enjoyed about this unique performance was the camaraderie of the two musicians, obviously enjoying working together to create and reinvigorate compositions that may not have been heard for a while – and bring them to Australian audiences for the first time. There can be an image of staidness attached to the piano and cheekiness to the percussion toolkit, so this combination of artists and instruments was a treat to see live – especially in the intimate Fourth Wall Arts space. The space will be busy in November when Alex’s Brisbane Music Festival takes over in the last two weeks of November – a perfect excuse to check out the venue, and more innovative music.

Beth Keehn

Find out more: www.brismusicfestival.com/events-page

Photographs: Alex Raineri, Rebecca Lloyd Jones and Beth Keehn