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TA S M A N I A N S Y M P H O N YO R C H E S T R A

B R E T T D E A N

testamenttestament

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Brett Dean b. 1961

1 Testament 15’05

2 Etüdenfest 10’54Caroline Almonte piano

Shadow Music [19’58]3 I. Prelude 2’544 II. Forgotten Garden 7’515 III. Voices and Shadows 9’13

6 Between Moments 6’07Sue-Ellen Paulsen cello

7 Game Over 14’56Duncan Abercromby clarinet/bass clarinet, Gary Wain drums; Ben van Tienen piano,Leonard Grigoryan electric guitar, Alison Lazaroff-Somssich electric violin, Sue-EllenPaulsen cello, Stuart Thomson double bass, Felix Williamson ‘Dwight, the game show contestant from Surry Hills’

Total Playing Time 67’19

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

Sebastian Lang-Lessing conductor

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Brett Dean is by no means alone in being acomposer who plays the viola. Bach andBeethoven, Britten and Dvořák were more thanproficient on the instrument; Mozart foundplaying the viola in chamber works an ideal wayto get ‘inside’ the music, while Hindemith foundtime to premiere concertos by the likes ofWilliam Walton. Brisbane-born Dean had been aprofessional violist with the Berlin PhilharmonicOrchestra for some years before taking upcomposition in his late twenties; having returnedto live in Australia in 2000, he continues to enjoyan international career as performer andcomposer. Like those of the composersmentioned, Dean’s compositions, particularlythose for orchestra and string-based chamberensembles, show a highly refined techniquebased on a violist’s intimate knowledge of theinternal workings of such ensembles.

In addition, Dean’s work is almost always fuelledby ethical as well as aesthetic concerns, and arecurrent idea in his work is that of music asmemorial. His breakthrough work, the clarinetconcerto Ariel’s Music, which he wrote for hisbrother Paul Dean in 1995, remembers a youngAmerican girl who died of AIDS in 1988, andwhose mother – who had contracted thedisease through a blood transfusion – became aheroic campaigner for the cause in a countrywhich had experienced denial at the highestlevels of government. Similarly, his HuntingtonEulogy (2001) for cello and piano is a moving

tribute to a young winemaker who died wellbefore his time, while orchestral works likeDispersal and Ceremony mourn the victims ofcolonisation and war.

None of which is to say that Dean’s music isworthy and dour, or lacking wit or humour, as isclear from his Etüdenfest of 2000. The workhad its genesis in a masterclass that Dean heldfor students at the Australian National Academyof Music – an institution of which he has sincebeen artistic director – in Melbourne in 1997. Theweek involved intense study of solo andchamber music, as well as purely ‘technical’work. At its conclusion Dean gathered the stringplayers for what he calls a ‘preparedimprovisation’ based on the technical exercisesof pedagogues like Otakar Ševčik and HenrySchradieck. As Dean points out, these studiesare the ‘most uninspiring and mechanicalexamples of musical composition… [They] aren’tmeant to be concert caprices in the manner ofPaganini. This is the very stuff of first puttinghands on fingerboards and hair on strings, ofchanging position and getting from the heel ofthe bow to the tip.’ The improvisation amazedeveryone – especially the performers – andDean embarked on a notated version of thepiece for the Australian Chamber Orchestra,who premiered it in 2000 with pianist Imogen Cooper.

Notating the work had two consequences: itallowed for a more even spread of virtuosity (the

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ability and inclination to improvise are notequally shared among classical musicians), andit invited the composer to give the material aformal shape. In Dean’s words, ‘in exploringdifferent technical aspects of string playing, sotoo do the textures change, from high, light andairy to dark and demonic. In the course of thepiece, a beginner’s study in left-hand dexteritybecomes a wild river of activity; later, a simplestring crossing exercise turns into animpassioned song.’ Etüdenfest begins quietly,with the gradual accretion of sound and texture,gaining energy and speed as more and moreparts are added. The central passages areoccasionally acerbic and vertiginously active, butgive way to a more rarified quiet section. Adisturbingly simple passage of open perfectintervals soon fragments into a darklyshimmering texture, but emotional equilibrium isrestored by the coup de théâtre of an offstagepiano exuberantly joining in the chaos.

If Etüdenfest finds art in the mechanical, Game

Over, also written for the Australian ChamberOrchestra, has an altogether more disturbingintent, namely, to unmask bright shinyconsumer culture as the coercive enemy ofindividual freedom. Game Over, whose titleevokes the meretricious game-show culture ofcommercial television, grew out of an electronicinstallation called hundreds and thousands thatDean devised for the millennium celebrations inBerlin. Just as improvised material and technicalexercises became the basis for a more formal

composition in Etüdenfest, so the electronicsounds of hundreds and thousands become astrand in the composition of Game Over. Thepiece is effectively a kind of concerto grosso,where the concertino group, originally tailored tothe New York-based Bang on a Can All-Stars,consists of clarinet (doubling bass), electricguitar, percussion, piano and amplified violin,cello and double bass. Bang on a Can premieredthe work at the University of Iowa with theAustralian Chamber Orchestra in 2000. Thestring orchestra, sampler and multi-trackedsound design form the ripieno group. Deanregards it as ‘a live tone-poem about theunrealisable desires of a flailing generation… It all starts as an innocent story – Dwight, ayoung game show contestant, tells briefly of hislife and family background. The soloists, led bythe cello, tentatively join in the game, like othercompetitors on the show, each with their ownstories, idiosyncrasies and characters. The brash,bumptious self-confidence of Dwight’s entranceslowly gives way to disillusionment and doubt as the solid, corporate edifice of theorchestral strings gradually yet irrevocably laysdown the ground rules by which the game must be played.’

In Game Over, fragments of recorded soundcoexist with moments of high lyricism,nightmarish frenzy and jaw-dropping banality.The musical design has the kind of effectidentified by German philosopher TheodorAdorno in some of the scherzos of Mahler, their

over a quietly roiling orchestral texturepunctuated by tear-drops from the piano. Shorttrumpet calls, first strident then muted, interruptthe work’s lyrical unfolding, but the work’s finalpages are of a gently fading fluidity.

Loss is also a powerful motive behind Dean’sTestament, originally for twelve violas butpresented here in a new version for orchestra. In1802 Beethoven, as was his wont, repaired tothe village of Heiligenstadt (then outside Vienna)for the summer. After his death a documentwhich has come to be known as the‘Heiligenstadt Testament’ was found among hispapers. It is a kind of will, addressed to his twobrothers (though one is never referred to byname) but never sent to them. For Beethoven itwas clearly a kind of exorcism: in it, he detailsthe emotional collapse brought about by therealisation in the early years of the century thathis deafness was permanent and getting worse.He considered suicide, but, as he famouslywrote, ‘my art held me back.’ Dean’s work,composed two hundred years after Beethoven’scrisis, is a musical picture of the composer inextremis; various extended techniques (such asthe use of unrosined bows) produce inchoatesounds to give a sense of Beethoven writingfrantically to glean his teeming brain and, at thesame time, trying desperately to hear. Out ofthe vortex of feverish activity we begin to hearrecognisable fragments of Beethoven’s music –notably from the first of the ‘Razumovsky’

Quartets, his first ‘heroic’ work in that medium.(Significantly, reflecting a moment of liberation inthe composer’s struggle with his affliction,Beethoven wrote on the autograph score of theThird Razumovsky Quartet: ‘Let your deafnessno longer be a secret, even in art.’)

For Dean, as perhaps for Beethoven, art is oftena means of holding on to something in the faceof time and chance – the memory of someonetaken, or an image of what is really importantdespite appearances. What Dean’s musicunderstands is the need for craft to embodythose ideas. When writing Etüdenfest Dean wasaware of ‘parallels between the discipline,sacrifice, passion and strict training regimen ofan elite Olympic athlete and the similarsacrifices and straight out hard work that weclassical musicians have to maintain in order toachieve our goals, pursue our passion, performat our best.’ Dean’s is superbly crafted musicabout things that matter.

Gordon Kerry

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empty busy-ness signifying the ‘spectre of blindfunctioning’ in late bourgeois society.

Shadow Music has, by contrast, no suchexplicit program. Indeed, the work’s cultivationof ambiguity is an important aspect of itsdramatic structure. Composed as part of Dean’sresidency with the Melbourne SymphonyOrchestra, and premiered in the Orchestra’sMetropolis series in 2002, Shadow Music isscored for a relatively modest, late Classical-sized orchestra and is cast in three movements,each incrementally longer than its predecessor.The first is a very short Prelude, characterised bya series of terse gestures often based aroundrepeated-note figures from winds and brasswhich, as Dean notes, ‘cast “shadows” ofsustained string sounds.’ The movement ends,tantalisingly, just as these begin to coalesce intomore substantial thematic shapes. In the slowersecond movement, Forgotten Garden,‘reminiscence and nervous anxiety lie side byside’ with themes – that often stress the tearfulinterval of the falling semitone – fading in andout of the texture, and recurring moments offebrile activity and harmonic collapse. The paletteis further enriched by Dean’s asking some of thestring players to play percussion instruments,notably water gongs in this movement. Atrumpet solo, which Dean says ‘seems to recallthe forgotten garden’s former glory’, appears inshadow form at the movement’s end on twoalto flutes. The final Voices and Shadows is a

passacaglia, where the repeating ‘ground’ isderived from harmony implicit in the Prelude.The effect of this movement is of creation out ofnothing, beginning as it does with the sound of‘bounced and scraped’ bowing from the stringswhich, Dean suggests, evokes a definition of‘shadow’ as ‘indistinct or suspect’. Thesegestures create a weird and unearthly backdropfor the more complex and virtuosic textures –fuelled by insistent, repeated-note motifs thatrecall the opening – that ensue, especially in the central section where solo strings ‘shadow’the tutti.

Like those memorialised in Ariel’s Music and theHuntington Eulogy, Australian cellist CameronRetchford died far too young when he wasinvolved in a car accident at the age of 38.Retchford and Dean went back a long way,having played alongside each other in theQueensland Youth Orchestra and later theAustralian Chamber Orchestra, of whichRetchford was Principal Cello for many years. InBetween Moments, Dean has composed ‘asimple memorial to Cameron. It is mostly quiet,reflective music motivated by a tragicoccurrence, though I hope I may have been ableto catch an aspect of that eternally youthful andsomewhat mischievous twinkle in Cameron’seye here and there.’ Naturally enough, the solocello has a prominent role, singing out, in theopening minutes of the work, a high, long-breathed melody that moves most often by step,

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Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

Established in 1948, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is acclaimed as one of the world’s finestsmall orchestras. Resident in the purpose-built Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, the TSO presentsmore than 60 diverse concerts across Tasmania and mainland Australia each year. German-bornSebastian Lang-Lessing has been the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director since 2004.

With a full-time complement of 47 musicians, the TSO’s core repertoire is the music of the Classicaland early Romantic periods. It is, however, a versatile orchestra, equally at home in jazz, popular musicand light classics, and recognised internationally as a champion of Australian music.

The TSO presents annual subscription seasons in Hobart and Launceston, and since its inception hasregularly toured regional Tasmania and mainland Australia. The orchestra appears at major Australianarts festivals and in 2005 initiated an annual Sydney Season. International touring has seen the TSO inNorth and South America, Greece, Israel, South Korea, China, Japan and Indonesia.

The TSO regularly records for radio, CD, film and television. Its recordings on international andAustralian CD labels have garnered critical praise, and the TSO is the only Australian orchestra to havereleased a complete set of the Beethoven symphonies, conducted by David Porcelijn, and a completecycle of Schumann symphonies, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing.

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Sebastian Lang-Lessing

Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Chief Conductor andArtistic Director of the Tasmanian SymphonyOrchestra (TSO), is one of the most talentedGerman conductors of his generation.

His career began at a young age withengagements at leading opera houses includingthe Hamburg State Opera, Opéra Bastille inParis and Houston Grand Opera. In addition tofollow-up appearances at these houses, hisopera engagements have included Oslo,Stockholm, Gothenburg, Bordeaux, Los Angelesand San Francisco.

Sebastian Lang-Lessing studied conducting atthe Hamburg State Conservatory. After beingawarded the Ferenc Fricsay Prize, he worked asassistant conductor at the Hamburg StateOpera. He was Erster Kapellmeister (First StaffConductor) at Rostock Opera for three yearsand, at the invitation of renowned director GötzFriedrich, was Conductor-in-Residence at theDeutsche Oper Berlin for eight years. From 1999to 2006 he was Music Director and ChiefConductor of the Opéra de Nancy in France.Under his direction, Opéra de Nancy waspromoted to national status, becoming theOpéra national de Lorraine. In addition to opera,Sebastian Lang-Lessing’s conducting duties inNancy included full concert seasons.

In 2005 Sebastian Lang-Lessing led the TSO ona tour of Japan and inaugurated the TSO’s annualSydney season. He has released numerous CDswith the TSO on ABC Classics, including thecomplete symphonies of Schumann, MozartArias (with Sara Macliver) and RomanticOvertures. A recording of the completesymphonies of Mendelssohn is nearingcompletion. His discography also includes musicby Saint-Saëns, D’Indy, Franck, Ravel and Bruch.His rediscovery of the music of Frenchcomposer Guy Ropartz and CD releases ofRopartz’s symphonies (Radio France) have beengreeted enthusiastically by the press.

Guest appearances have included engagementswith the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, LeipzigGewandhaus, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra,Hamburg Symphony, Orchestre de Paris,Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France,Orchestre de Toulouse, Orchestre de Bordeaux,Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon and majororchestras in Australia.

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Powering Australian music into the future

Sponsor of the TSO Australian Music Program

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Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert PattersonRecording Producers Haig Burnell 1, Brooke Green 2-7Recording Engineer Veronika VinczeSound Design and Sampler Programming

Bob Scott 7Post Production Bob Scott and Brett Dean 7Editing Haig Burnell and Veronika Vincze 1, Brooke Green and Veronika Vincze 2-7Mastering Veronika VinczeEditorial and Production Manager Katherine KempPublications Editor Natalie SheaBooklet Design Imagecorp Pty LtdCover Photo Frost on pandani plant (Richeapandanifolia), Tasmania © Rob Blakers /Photolibrary.com

Recorded 11 and 12 October 2006 7 in theTasmanian Symphony Orchestra Studio, and 24 and25 November 2005 3-5, 9 October 2006 6, 21 and 23 February 2007 2 and 18 and 19 March2008 1 in Federation Concert Hall, Hobart.

Testament, Etüdenfest, Shadow Music, BetweenMoments and Game Over are published by Boosey& Hawkes.

ABC Classics thanks Alexandra Alewood and Melissa Kennedy.

For Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

Managing Director Nicholas HeywardManager, Artistic Planning Simon RogersAustralian Music Program Director Lyndon TerraciniAustralian Music Program Director Emeritus

Richard Mills Concertmaster Jun Yi Mawww.tso.com.au

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� 2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. � 2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributedin Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group,under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights ofthe owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting,lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.