Yellow Barn

Brett Dean and Arnold Schoenberg String Quartets

Back to the 2014-2015 Greenwood Listening Guide

February 20-27, 2015

Performance at Next Stage on February 26th

Two string quartets with soprano form the cornerstone of this residency. Apart from the superficial pairing of two like ensembles, these are works that both wrestle with the most difficult of human circumstance; betrayal, madness, and suicide. Brett Dean’s examination of the plight of Shakespeare’s Ophelia and Schoenberg’s expression of his own very painful biography in the composition of his 2nd string quartet introduce the elements of objectivity and subjectivity in how we create and experience art.

Brett Dean will be a part of the string quartet led by violinist Anthony Marwood and joined by soprano, Allison Bell.

playlist

The following playlist is a summary of the MP3 audio files located at the bottom of this page. Look for additional program notes in the MP3 descriptions.

Works by Brett Dean
Twelve Angry Men
Carlo
Huntington Eulogy
Intimate Decisions

Texts

Arnold Schoenberg
String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 10, Movements 3 and 4
Text from Stefan George's collection Der siebente Ring (The Seventh Ring)
Download a PDF of the text for this piece

Audio

Twelve Angry Men

Brett Dean (b.1961). Twelve Angry Men (1996). Natasha Brofsky, Jay Campbell, Jean-Michele Fonteneau, Bonnie Hampton, Linor Katz, Ahrim Kim, Christine Lamprea, Sunny Yang, Han Bin Yoon, Zhou Yi, cellos; Dae Hee Choo, double bass—July 14, 2011.

"Twelve Angry Men" takes the expressive qualities of 12 cellos and casts them as musical versions of the 12 jurors in Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film of the same name... It’s a great starting point for a piece of music and Dean’s fine musical instincts turned string sounds into palpable human drama. (Harriet Cunningham)

 

Carlo

Brett Dean (b.1961). Carlo (1997). Violaine Melançon, Francesca Anderegg, Omer Dor, Li Lao, Ariana Kim, Semion Gavrikov, Liesl Schoenberger, Alexander Sprung, violins; Margaret Dyer, Itamar Ringel, Born Lau, violas; Natasha Brofsky, Clara Lee, Estelle Choi, cellos; Tony Flynt, double bass—August 5, 2010. Program Note

Intimate Decisions

Brett Dean (b.1961). Intimate Decisions (1996). Brett Dean, viola—July 30, 2012. Program Note

Nightsky

Brett Dean (b.1961). Huntington Eulogy, I.Nightsky (2001). Fernando Arias, cello; Ellen Hwangbo, piano—July 31, 2012. Program Note

Swarming

Brett Dean (b.1961). Huntington Eulogy, II.Swarming (2001). Fernando Arias, cello; Ellen Hwangbo, piano—July 31, 2012.

Elegy for Jason

Brett Dean (b.1961). Huntington Eulogy, III.Elegy for Jason (2001). Fernando Arias, cello; Ellen Hwangbo, piano—July 31, 2012.