Berliner Philharmoniker I

Brett Dean has already written a whole series of works with express references to the creative work of Robert and Clara Schumann or their personal sphere – references made less through direct quotation than through distorted echoes and fragmentary reminiscences, in which moments of musical romanticism can be discerned like an echo of history in a contemporary context. The original tonal harmonics are distorted as if in a concave mirror by microtonal shifts and clusters, often creating a seeming unrealistic dialogue between the distant past and the present – and at times, Dean also alludes to Schumann’s two poetic alter egos (Florestan and Eusebius) through contrasting sonic states. He composed such a dialogue in his Conversations with Schumann for soprano and orchestra – a “suite” that alternates between impulsive (Florestan) and introverted lyrical (Eusebius) sections. In Dean’s And once I played Ophelia, written for the same cast, the otherworldly music is focussed on the lover of Shakespeare’s Hamlet who continues to sing during the process of her death. The solo soprano part presents great challenges for the singer, including lamentations in quartertones and the extreme range extending up to F6. This is followed by Debussy’s atmospheric La cathédrale engloutie with its associations with medieval chants and the sounds of bells and the organ in the brilliant orchestral version by Colin Matthews. The piece conjures up an image of the Cathedral of Ys, which according to a Breton legend rose up out of the sea at dawn before sinking back underwater. The concert concludes with Brett Dean’s orchestral work Beggars and Angels in which threatening tonal eruptions are juxtaposed with shimmering harmonics on the strings: the creatures of the heavens display themselves as volatile and possibly even dangerous beings.