It is 40 years since Mauricio Kagel wrote his absurdist instrumental music piece Dressur (1977). The work for three percussionists compares the extreme demands of modernist composers to horse dressage (from which the piece derives its name) and includes a complex series of synchronised musical and stage directions which the musicians are required to perform.

Dressur has become a work of iconic status, attracting percussionists with the technical challenge of the virtuosic writing, the theatrical challenge of carrying out instructions while remaining emotionally detached and the often delightful rhythmic patterns created from entirely wooden instrumentation.

Leah Scholes in Kate Nea's Never Tilt Your ChairLeah Scholes in Kate Neal’s Never Tilt Your Chair. Photo © Sarah Walker

It is surprising it has taken this long for Dressur to be performed in Australia, an oversight rectified by the collaborative efforts of Tura New Music and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. A sold-out crowd packed into PICA over two nights to hear leading theatre-music percussionists Louise Devenish, Leah Scholes and Vanessa Tomlinson give the Australian premiere.

There was never any doubt that Devenish and Scholes (The Sound Collectors duo) and Tomlinson (Clocked Out) had the...