Alex Raineri: Innovation in contemporary art music

Artist Focus | Alex Raineri

Churchill Fellowship, 2024

Alex Raineri is a Brisbane-based pianist, harpsichordist, composer, artistic director, producer, writer, radio presenter, and educator. He was recently awarded a Churchill Fellowship and we asked him to tell us about it…

In June/July 2024, I undertook a professional development research trip courtesy of the Churchill Fellowship Trust. I researched contemporary music performance practices, workings with various mentors in Venice, Berlin, Stuttgart, Freiburg, London, Sheffield, Chicago, New York and New Haven. This was a deeply inspiring and informative venture which has transformed my creative capacity as a performer, curator, and collaborator. 

With each of the mentors I had many fascinating conversations – grand rambles about music and meaning that led us down many rabbit holes. In this brief article, I share a few rambling reflections on the topic of ‘innovation in contemporary art music’. 

There is a huge pressure for contemporary art music to be innovative.

A great deal of critical expectation is placed on composers to create work that is neither derivative nor overly referential, but completely fresh and original. 

A famous German composer famously claimed “there are no new sounds”. I would argue that even if this is true, there are many ways in which notation can develop to be much more holistic, interactive, and engaging. So much of what is embedded in a musical score leaves a huge level of nuance and interpretational detail up to the performer. But, if everything was fully prescribed, there would be no argument for a human to perform it (versus an AI performance). To my mind, other musical genres often allow for a far greater creative flexibility than contemporary art music, and often empower artists to be their optimal creative selves. Somehow, the conditions of notated ‘art music’ result in a lesser ability to inspire this deep creativity in its performers. 

If we proceed with the idea of there being no more new sounds left to discover, how can we as performers and consumers (listeners) of contemporary art music temper our expectations towards composers in a realistic way, that also celebrates creativity in all of its guises in a positive and productive manner? 

One mentor suggested that modern music is most interesting when it is simply itself.

This is a wonderful and simple way to acknowledge that music is written by humans and should bear some kind of character imprint of its creator. Another mentor spoke about their role as a composition teacher as bringing out the utmost creative potential in each student, rather than aligning them with any kind of school of composition.

Complexity is not a prerequisite for innovation, yet much contemporary art music is riddled with needless virtuosity and cluttered scoring. I believe that music need only be as complex as its fundamental nature calls for (and should this be hyper-virtuosic, that’s fine, as long as it is sincere). A requirement of this, however, is that the composer be finely attuned to their creativity and have developed a distinctive and clear compositional voice (an outrageous expectation, as a true artist is always in search of growth). 

Even without the capacity to provide a clear answer, the question itself of ‘what is truly engaging in new contemporary art music’ is also unclear.  It is clear to me however that in order to perform a work in a convincing manner, the player must have a concrete idea of what they themselves value in the work. 

The results of my Churchill Fellowship research have amplified my creative capacity and scope for contribution to the Australian arts landscape through my various curatorial and performative ventures – as a freelance pianist, and as Artistic Director of both Brisbane Music Festival and FourthWall Arts. Despite my significant body of work and experience within the realms of contemporary art music, my interpretation and performance of this music is primarily a self-taught skill. I am deeply grateful to the Winston Churchill Trust for facilitating this pivotal opportunity to sharpen my skill-set in this field.

We look forward to hearing more from Alex in the coming year!

Photo Credit: Israel Rivera