Bloom

Where else but the Brisbane Music Festival could you step out to the edge of the City after your morning coffee on a Sunday and enjoy world-class classical and experimental music, plus Australian and World premieres? The festival’s Artistic Director, Alex Raineri and his friend and colleague on the keys, Maxwell Foster, toured the USA in May this year, performing for classical music fans from Chicago and across to Baltimore, where Maxwell is currently based.  

Their programme was centred around works for two pianos (four hands)! The duo started with Radiohead’s ‘2+2=5’ (from 2003) arranged by Australian performer and producer, James Dobinson, who has worked with the Festival before (and was also Music Supervisor for the award-winning musical Bananaland). This was the perfect piece to introduce the audience to the wonderful tensions of harmony and dissonance and set the tone for what was to follow. The Australian premiere of Natalie Nicolas’s ‘Bloom’ (2021) is a cascading piece that blends moving melancholic depths with splendid cloud-like optimism. The Sydney-based composer was in the audience, and I hope it is not the last time we see her in Brisbane.

Damian Barbeler is a Brisbane-born composer and multimedia artist. His ‘Bright Birds’ (2012) was inspired by the Australian landscape and composed using recordings of birdsong. The piano duet took us into a landscape of birds and sky, harmonious flight and dissonant waves crashing on rocks. Maxwell introduced the next piece, ‘Little Serenade’ by Peter Sculthorpe and told us it was a lost soundtrack by the Australian composer. Its lilting and pensive tones took us into the world of film, which was the perfect segue to the next piece – a world premiere of ‘Diffisions’ by Anteo Fabris.

Maxwell first met the Swiss-born composer and sound designer when Anteo was working as a waiter. And so, with this kind of ‘New York story ‘to set the scene, Maxwell clued us in to this fascinating commission by the Brisbane Music Festival. The resulting piece was an intriguing enigma of a composition in 17 parts. The players were given complete freedom to create and arrange their own montage. I know that New York was not necessarily the setting, but the 9-part piece that Alex and Maxwell created took me into a short film in my mind that started with a subway ride to Central Park, down town past stage doors, through back alleys and down to the Bowery. The music showcased how versatile and evocative the piano can be – and of course, what a fabulous cinematic tool it is. That quality of the keys was showcased in the final piece, ‘Kusama’s Garden’ (2019) by regular Brisbane Music Festival collaborator, Alex Turley. This proved a formidable closer, highlighting the power of the piano, especially when played by two piano virtuosos – its deep bass tones and fragile treble tendrils creating emotional and cinematic spaces far vaster than the intimate setting of the FourthWall Arts space. This piece also included a digital playback component, reminding me that young composers today are capable of using all the technology and tools available – and they are also great hosts and raconteurs, judging by Alex and Maxwell.

The Brisbane Music Festival continues in October and December: brismusicfestival.com

Beth Keehn

Photographer: Jai Farrell