Films |
| Brett Dean at Risør Festival of Chamber Music 2010 |
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| Brett Dean - Bliss |
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Photos |
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Brett Dean (credit: Robert Piccoli) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Robert Piccoli) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Pawel Kopczynski) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Mark Coulsen) |
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Brett Dean (credit: Mark Coulsen) |
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Viola Concerto
Commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic & Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
“Having done so many pieces in recent years that tell an extra-musical story, or have a poetic or literary title, it seemed fitting that this should be a piece that examines first and foremost purely musical ideas... It’s nevertheless an essay in which I inhabit part-sonic and part-lyrical words as in much of my music... I’m treating it the same as a concerto I’d write for any other viola soloist, and certainly want to give myself something that I personally enjoy playing in terms of challenge, expression and virtuosity.”
Brett Dean on his Viola Concerto
Details
Duration: 27 minutes
Instrumentation: 3(I,III=picc,II=picc,afl).2(II=corA).2(II=bcl).2(II=dbn)-3.2.2.1-timp.perc(3):I=vib/5tom-t/SD/vibraslap/2tgl/sandpaper; II=xyl/sm tam-t/3chin.cym/5susp.cym/BD/tamb/5tuned gongs/3crot; III=marimba/crot(2octaves)/wdbl/tpl.bl/chin.cym/lg tam-t/cowbell/whip-harp-cel-pft-strings(12.10.8.6.5)
Composition date: 2005
Premiere details: 15/04/2005, Barbican Hall, London, Brett Dean, viola / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Rumon Gamba
Audio
Hear the opening of the second movement of Brett Dean's Viola Concerto, performed by the composer with the Sydney Symphony and Simone Young (courtesy of BIS Records).
Reviews
“Dean is a top-flight viola player as well as an upwardly mobile composer. His new Viola Concerto is a substantial affair, elegantly proportioned and full of colourful musical imagery."
The Guardian, April 2005
"Dean has written something as personal as one would expect. The haunting and arresting sounds are all his own, and bright colours suggest a strong connection to his country’s landscape. Indeed, the peaceful close, in which the previously hectic solo viola emerges purified, evokes a lullaby in which the earth seems to be singing itself to sleep."
The Times, April 2005
“Each element of Dean's brilliant orchestration could be savored, as well as his own virtuosic playing.”
Los Angeles Times, October 2006
“...tightly structured and well-proportioned...there is a deep internal logic in the way Dean's musical arguments emerge and develop, with the focus constantly shifting between soloist and orchestra. This also gives a deliberately combative quality to the concerto in places, with the viola battling to hold back the waves of orchestral power... Dean is a fine soloist, too, throwing off the blazingly virtuosic passages with unruffled ease while sustaining a strong, full-bodied tone. His orchestration is imaginative, full of evocative colours and striking effects”
The Australian, August 2006
“…Dean has lost none of his virtuosity as a performer, while confirming his reputation as an up-and-coming craftsman-composer… Curiously beautiful, somewhat enigmatic? No question.”
Financial Times, April 2005
Links
Click here for the publisher's information on the Viola Concerto.
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