BBCSSO/Wigglesworth and Booth Review: Brett Dean's Rich Song 2026

The BBCSSO/Wigglesworth and Booth review highlights Brett Dean's rich and strange song cycle, The World's Wife, which captivated the audience at the Proms. This performance, part of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's season, showcased a compelling blend of orchestral textures and vocal artistry.

Concert Overview: Elgar's First Symphony

The evening opened with Elgar's First Symphony, a work of monumental scale and emotional depth. Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth led the orchestra with a clear architectural vision, but the performance, while handsome, lacked the visceral impact that makes this symphony unforgettable. The orchestra's playing was polished, yet transitions felt choppy, and the emotional arc didn't fully coalesce.

Judith Weir's Moon and Star

The first half also featured Judith Weir's 1995 composition, Moon and Star, based on Emily Dickinson's poem. This piece shimmered with filmic sweep, creating a prismatic explosion of imagery. The orchestral texture was layered and luminous, with Dickinson's verse at the center like a crystal. It was a mesmerizing experience that set the stage for the evening's centerpiece.

Brett Dean's The World's Wife: A Rich and Strange Song Cycle

Brett Dean's new orchestral song-cycle, The World's Wife, is a theatrical and compelling work. Setting five poems from Carol Ann Duffy's collection, the cycle looks at famous men—Icarus, Darwin, Perseus—through the eyes of the women behind them. Soprano Claire Booth delivered a stunning performance, seizing Duffy's text and bending it into love-song, satire, prayer, and meditation. Dean's music, pitched between Pierrot Lunaire and Façade, is stylized and arch, but richly and strangely textured, creating new spaces in Duffy's tight, epigrammatic verse.

Performance Highlights and Musical Texture

Claire Booth's stage presence was magnetic. She brought each poem to life with dramatic intensity, from the wry humor of "Mrs. Icarus" to the poignant reflection in "Mrs. Darwin." The orchestra, under Wigglesworth's baton, responded with sensitivity, capturing the shifting moods of the cycle. The use of extended techniques and unusual instrumental colors added to the work's strangeness, making it a memorable and thought-provoking experience.

Comparison: Traditional vs. Contemporary Song Cycles

Key Takeaways from the Concert

• Brett Dean's The World's Wife is a standout contemporary work, rich in texture and theatricality.
• Claire Booth's performance was a masterclass in vocal storytelling.
• Elgar's First Symphony, while well-played, didn't fully ignite emotionally.
• Judith Weir's Moon and Star offered a beautiful, shimmering contrast.

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