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BBCSSO/Wigglesworth / Booth review – Brett Dean’s song cycle is rich and strange
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s first Prom of the season, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, featured the world premiere of Brett Dean’s The World’s Wife with soprano Claire Booth. The reviewer found Dean’s theatrical song cycle richly textured and engaging, while Judith Weir’s Moon and Star was praised for its cinematic colour; Elgar’s First Symphony, however, was considered competent rather than fully moving.
Dean’s five-part setting uses Carol Ann Duffy poems that reconsider figures including Icarus, Darwin and Perseus through women’s perspectives. Booth was commended for delivering the varied material as love song, satire, prayer and meditation, while Dean’s music was likened to a blend of Pierrot Lunaire and Façade; in Elgar, choppy transitions and occasional balance issues prevented the performance achieving greater emotional momentum.
In short
- Dean’s new song cycle impressed through vivid theatricality.
- Claire Booth gave a versatile, compelling performance.
- Elgar’s First Symphony lacked complete emotional lift.
Explained simply
The BBC Proms are a major annual concert series showcasing orchestras and classical music. This concert was the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's opening Prom of the season, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.
Brett Dean is a contemporary composer whose work has been performed internationally. At this concert, he premiered a new song cycle called The World's Wife, featuring soprano Claire Booth performing five poems by Scottish writer Carol Ann Duffy.
A song cycle is a series of linked songs that form a larger work, and Duffy's poems in this cycle retell famous figures from mythology and history—including Icarus and Darwin—from women's perspectives. The premiere of a substantial new work by an established composer at a major concert series is a significant cultural event.
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