Brett Dean's The World's Wife Review: Rich, Strange Song Cycle 2026

Brett Dean's song cycle The World's Wife is rich and strange, as heard in the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Prom under Ryan Wigglesworth. This review explores the performance's highlights and complexities.

The concert opened with Judith Weir's Moon and Star, a 1995 work that set Emily Dickinson's poetry in a shimmering orchestral tapestry. The piece felt less like a traditional setting and more like a prismatic explosion of imagery, with the verse as a crystal at its center. The BBCSSO delivered the filmic sweep with precision, though the overall effect was more cerebral than visceral.

Brett Dean's The World's Wife: A Theatrical Song Cycle

Dean's new orchestral song cycle, The World's Wife, takes Carol Ann Duffy's wry and irreverent poems, offering a glimpse behind famous men—Icarus, Darwin, Perseus—to the women in their shadows. Soprano Claire Booth is a stage animal, seizing the text and bending it into love-song, satire, prayer, and meditation. Dean's monodrama sits somewhere between Pierrot Lunaire and Façade, stylized and arch, yet so richly textured that it creates new spaces in Duffy's tight, epigrammatic verse.

Performance Analysis: BBCSSO and Wigglesworth

In the Elgar First Symphony, Wigglesworth's approach was architectural, thinking in chapters. The opening Andante's hushed lines paid off in the finale, but transitions in the first two movements felt choppy. The Allegro lacked context, and the Adagio's balance was not always perfectly voiced. As one critic noted, 'Nothing fatal, but enough to keep us thinking rather than feeling.'

Comparing the Works: Weir, Dean, and Elgar

Key Takeaways from the Prom

• Brett Dean's song cycle is a standout, showcasing Claire Booth's dramatic range.
• The BBCSSO's performance of Elgar was competent but lacked emotional depth.
• Judith Weir's Moon and Star offered a unique, shimmering experience.

FAQ

Overall, this Prom offered a fascinating contrast: the intellectual Elgar, the shimmering Weir, and the rich, strange world of Brett Dean. For lovers of contemporary vocal music, Dean's cycle is a must-hear, and Claire Booth's performance is not to be missed.