Brett Dean: Short Stories (2005) for string orchestra

Evocative, tightly structured miniatures, for the most part, brooding and unsettling, dominated by a threatening, nervous energy that occasionally swells up into frenzied outbursts. Only the elegiac [...] Arietta offers any sense of relief, albeit fleeting and unresolved. Once again, Dean proves that he is a composer with a distinctive voice and singular vision.

The Australian