Dean commissions for BBC Symphony and Concertgebouw

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(April 2005)

Brett Dean: new commissions for BBC Symphony and Concertgebouw orchestras

Brett Dean's prestigious list of commissions continues with a Viola Concerto for the BBC Symphony and Parteitag for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Brett Dean, one of the most gifted all-round musicians of his generation, combines his skills as composer and viola soloist in his new Viola Concerto commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The premiere takes place at the Barbican in London on 15 April under the baton of Rumon Gamba. It is Dean's first overtly titled 'concerto' and is inevitably a personal statement for his own instrument:

"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 worlds 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."

Dean's Parteitag, to be premiered at the Holland Festival on 3 June, is far removed from traditional concert genres, demonstrating the range of his output. It will combine the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, spread in groups around the Wester Gas Works in Amsterdam, with projections by the video artist Cazerine Barry. Their collaborative work is inspired by thoughts on the use of power in the world, as described by the composer:

"The musical idea is a further evolving of a concept I first worked with as part of my millennial tape work Hundreds and Thousands, premiered at the Kulturforum in Berlin. A series of fanfares represents the surface sheen of government pomp and ceremony as found during military parades, public holidays and party congresses, however scratching beneath this surface always reveals all sorts of unsavoury wheeling and dealing, whether we're talking about a military dictatorship or a democratically elected government."

Moments of Bliss: towards an opera

As a major staging post towards a new opera based on Peter Carey's novel Bliss, Dean has composed Moments of Bliss, premiered in December by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Markus Stenz. This suite of four movements, which will function as interludes in the opera, offer snapshots of the ad-man Harry Joy who suffers a heart attack, only to be revived into a hellish vision of his life. The music moves from smoky eroticism, through cardiac trauma, to Hades itself which Dean colours with "that most devilish of contemporary sound worlds, the television game show", closing with an elegy remembering moments of former bliss.

"Introducing the work, Stenz called it "a true 21st-century piece", and in many ways it's an apt description... Dean manages to blend the electronic and the acoustic sounds in a fashion that makes previous attempts seem like a rehearsal for their real possibilities. He also backs it with some sensational instrumental writing, especially for bass and contrabass clarinet. I can't wait for the full opera." The Australian

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Dean commissions for BBC Symphony and Concertgebouw

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