"Every so often a new work comes along that makes us all sit up and take notice, startled as we do so; Paul Dean’s concerto for cello and wind quintet is such a piece. It is gritty, lyrical, compelling, and in Trish Dean, has a phenomenal advocate. She is well-matched by Paul and the other members of Ensemble Q, a sharp-shooting group of renowned wind soloists in Brisbane, brought together out of the desire to create a collection of ‘exceptional players and wonderful people’.
Paul Kildea, Musica Viva 2021
read more here
Paul Kildea, Musica Viva 2021
read more here
LIMELIGHT REVIEW - Musica viva LIVESTREAM 23/8/21
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/ensemble-q-musica-viva-livestream/?fbclid=IwAR05jURQlHLgREWYmwvk6JP6U-6B-nyRwLUg60M1nth6zFrM2J09Fy5nUw0
Ensemble Q (Musica Viva livestream)
The "tour of a lifetime" is pared back to a superb digital live one-off for Paul Dean’s new masterwork.
Livestreamed video recording
Reviewed on 23 August, 2021
by Steve Moffatt on 24 August, 2021
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It was to have been “the tour of a lifetime” for Paul Dean and Brisbane’s Ensemble Q – a program of music highlighting the group’s prodigious skills, culminating in a performance of his Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet, written for his wife cellist Trish Dean.
But, sadly, lockdowns put an end to that and Dean and Musica Viva Australia had to go to plan B with a one-off livestreamed performance from the empty ABC Queensland Symphony Orchestra studio.
Ensemble Q. Photo supplied
With the camera left to roll, we see a masked stagehand setting up the various configurations for a wide-ranging recital, often helped by the performers themselves shifting chairs, mics and music stands. It has the impersonal sterile atmosphere of an operating theatre – until the music starts.
And what music, what performances!
It gets under way with the seductive and sinuous solo flute of Virginia Taylor playing Claude Debussy’s Syrinx, its perfect four minutes expressing a variety of colours and emotions, all delivered with perfect control and burnished intonation by Taylor.
Beethoven’s youthful, cheeky and sunny Variations on La ci darem le mano from Mozart’s Don Giovanni follows, Huw Jones’ oboe and Paul Dean’s clarinet tossing the theme back and forth with Trish Dean’s cello lending sterling support in the beautiful balance and a warm acoustic of the room. Beethoven puts the trio through their paces with each variation getting more virtuosic, ending with a sassy fugue led by the cello.
Three pieces that Dean says “on paper shouldn’t go together but which work off each other brilliantly”, form the backbone of the program.
Gyorgy Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet famously pushed the boundaries of the oppressive 1950s with their raucous and playful approach to harmony and rhythm, upsetting the Soviet authorities in the process. These are high-octane chamber music morsels which show off the sharp-as-a-tack ensemble skills of the group.
In sharp contrast Trish Dean gives a powerful performance of Benjamin Britten’s Ciaconna from Cello Suite No 2. These three technically challenging suites can best be described as Bach on steroids – Dean once broke her finger in the flying double stopping runs of one of them.
From the dark restlessness of the Britten, it is all light and sunshine when hornist Peter Luff and bassoonist David Mitchell come to the stage for Samuel Barber’s Summer Music. This is a wonderful work with its Romantic overtones and fresh and sharp harmonic writing that summons up the hazy optimism of summer. As Barber said: “It’s supposed to be evocative of summer – summer meaning languid, not killing mosquitos.”
It requires precise ensemble playing – tonguing and lightning-fast fingering passages are all superbly tight in Ensemble Q’s performance and one gets the impression that this is five good friends thoroughly enjoying themselves. There is a burnished warm tone to their sound and they show great breath control in the long languid lines of the slower sections.
But the highlight of the concert is Dean’s concerto, which he wrote in 2018 for Trish Dean and the ensemble.
“Much of my music has a theme or story behind it, yet this piece is pure music for music’s sake, and whilst it contains images of some of Trish’s and my favourite things, there is no underlying story behind the music,” Dean says.
The idea for it started when, in his final year as Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in Melbourne, he conducted some of Hindemith’s Kammermusik chamber music ensemble pieces with their unusual configurations of instruments. He wanted to write for “my favourite instrument, the cello” and for his favourite person, his wife Trish.
The results is a work in three movements – New Paths, Under the Canopy andHomage to Les Six – played without pause
The first movement explores some of the expanded musical techniques Dean had learned with his recently completed opera, Dry River Run, along with referencing his discovery of his new home in Brisbane and walks in the nearby park with the couple’s two dogs.
The cello opens with an aria above a gently rocking motif from bass clarinet, bassoon and horn, before Jones on cor anglais comes in as a second voice. The intensity and excitement build and the horn and flute becoming more strident.
The lovely slow second movement “laid itself in front of me”, Dean says, on walks to the park with the “explosion of light” in the canopy of the leopard trees. In it there is a cadenza for sole cello which echoes the power of the Britten piece featured earlier in the concert.
The last movement, with its tribute to the wit and spirit of Poulenc and the other Les Six composers, is very much Dean’s own voice and musical personality coming through. It all ends in a frantic bravura ensemble gesture. When it’s over the musical friends hug and leave the stage.
It’s just such a shame that we have to make do with this one-off digital performance of a “tour of a lifetime”.
Ensemble Q (Musica Viva livestream)
The "tour of a lifetime" is pared back to a superb digital live one-off for Paul Dean’s new masterwork.
Livestreamed video recording
Reviewed on 23 August, 2021
by Steve Moffatt on 24 August, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
It was to have been “the tour of a lifetime” for Paul Dean and Brisbane’s Ensemble Q – a program of music highlighting the group’s prodigious skills, culminating in a performance of his Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet, written for his wife cellist Trish Dean.
But, sadly, lockdowns put an end to that and Dean and Musica Viva Australia had to go to plan B with a one-off livestreamed performance from the empty ABC Queensland Symphony Orchestra studio.
Ensemble Q. Photo supplied
With the camera left to roll, we see a masked stagehand setting up the various configurations for a wide-ranging recital, often helped by the performers themselves shifting chairs, mics and music stands. It has the impersonal sterile atmosphere of an operating theatre – until the music starts.
And what music, what performances!
It gets under way with the seductive and sinuous solo flute of Virginia Taylor playing Claude Debussy’s Syrinx, its perfect four minutes expressing a variety of colours and emotions, all delivered with perfect control and burnished intonation by Taylor.
Beethoven’s youthful, cheeky and sunny Variations on La ci darem le mano from Mozart’s Don Giovanni follows, Huw Jones’ oboe and Paul Dean’s clarinet tossing the theme back and forth with Trish Dean’s cello lending sterling support in the beautiful balance and a warm acoustic of the room. Beethoven puts the trio through their paces with each variation getting more virtuosic, ending with a sassy fugue led by the cello.
Three pieces that Dean says “on paper shouldn’t go together but which work off each other brilliantly”, form the backbone of the program.
Gyorgy Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet famously pushed the boundaries of the oppressive 1950s with their raucous and playful approach to harmony and rhythm, upsetting the Soviet authorities in the process. These are high-octane chamber music morsels which show off the sharp-as-a-tack ensemble skills of the group.
In sharp contrast Trish Dean gives a powerful performance of Benjamin Britten’s Ciaconna from Cello Suite No 2. These three technically challenging suites can best be described as Bach on steroids – Dean once broke her finger in the flying double stopping runs of one of them.
From the dark restlessness of the Britten, it is all light and sunshine when hornist Peter Luff and bassoonist David Mitchell come to the stage for Samuel Barber’s Summer Music. This is a wonderful work with its Romantic overtones and fresh and sharp harmonic writing that summons up the hazy optimism of summer. As Barber said: “It’s supposed to be evocative of summer – summer meaning languid, not killing mosquitos.”
It requires precise ensemble playing – tonguing and lightning-fast fingering passages are all superbly tight in Ensemble Q’s performance and one gets the impression that this is five good friends thoroughly enjoying themselves. There is a burnished warm tone to their sound and they show great breath control in the long languid lines of the slower sections.
But the highlight of the concert is Dean’s concerto, which he wrote in 2018 for Trish Dean and the ensemble.
“Much of my music has a theme or story behind it, yet this piece is pure music for music’s sake, and whilst it contains images of some of Trish’s and my favourite things, there is no underlying story behind the music,” Dean says.
The idea for it started when, in his final year as Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in Melbourne, he conducted some of Hindemith’s Kammermusik chamber music ensemble pieces with their unusual configurations of instruments. He wanted to write for “my favourite instrument, the cello” and for his favourite person, his wife Trish.
The results is a work in three movements – New Paths, Under the Canopy andHomage to Les Six – played without pause
The first movement explores some of the expanded musical techniques Dean had learned with his recently completed opera, Dry River Run, along with referencing his discovery of his new home in Brisbane and walks in the nearby park with the couple’s two dogs.
The cello opens with an aria above a gently rocking motif from bass clarinet, bassoon and horn, before Jones on cor anglais comes in as a second voice. The intensity and excitement build and the horn and flute becoming more strident.
The lovely slow second movement “laid itself in front of me”, Dean says, on walks to the park with the “explosion of light” in the canopy of the leopard trees. In it there is a cadenza for sole cello which echoes the power of the Britten piece featured earlier in the concert.
The last movement, with its tribute to the wit and spirit of Poulenc and the other Les Six composers, is very much Dean’s own voice and musical personality coming through. It all ends in a frantic bravura ensemble gesture. When it’s over the musical friends hug and leave the stage.
It’s just such a shame that we have to make do with this one-off digital performance of a “tour of a lifetime”.
Concert of quality shows what can be done online
Music / Ensemble Q, Musica Viva’s Online Discovery Series, August 23. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.LIVE music -- yes really -- streamed from Queensland, as Ensemble Q, which was to play in Canberra today (August 24) gave a taste of their enthralling sound in a concert streamed online yesterday.
Ensemble Q is an Australian collective group. They performed in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Studio in Brisbane for more than 250 people. Formed in 2017 by Paul and Trish Dean they now include former Canberran Virginia Taylor, who was the associate Professor of flute at the Australian National University for more than 25 years.
Performing in Ensemble Q were Paul Dean clarinet and artistic director, Trish Dean cello and artistic director, Virginia Taylor flute, Huw Jones oboe, Peter Luff horn, David Mitchell bassoon.
Watching and hearing an online concert is best with a quality screen and speakers. Fortunately, with my home music studio, I have both, and the experience made the music come alive. Beginning with “Syrinx” by Debussy for solo flute played by Taylor, the floating suspended sound of this music echoed warmly and clearly, so much so I could hear every breath. Sublime.
Beethoven’s “Variations” on “Là ci darem la mano” for oboe, cello, and clarinet sounded just like being there. This highly enjoyable and playful music had an even balance across the instruments, and it stood out for its cheeky tunes. The animated performance and their timing were exquisite.
For piccolo and flute, oboe, bassoon and French horn, Ligeti’s, “Six Bagatelles for wind quintet” sounded dynamic, plus hilarious in places. Sometimes complex, sometimes clashing, but this always interesting music captivated. There is a clever use of individual sonorities throughout this dynamic music. These Bagatelles raced and glided with effecting writing and excellent playing.
“Ciaccona” from Second Suite for Cello, Op. 80 by Britten mirrored the Ligeti work for animated writing. The dexterity it takes to perform this contrasting and complex piece seemed to flow naturally for Trish Dean on cello. She made her instrument speak.
Seeing fingers perform vibrato, glissando and pizzicato up close was a music lesson that you cannot get in a concert hall. Hearing each string resonate and slowly die away was an ethereal experience.
Samuel Barber’s “Summer Music”, for the five wind players, sat well with the other 20th-century pieces. The depths of beauty in this work closely reflect the shimmering heat and slowness of a long hot summer’s day. Ensemble Q worked so well together in this and all the pieces; they are world-class players.
Paul Dean’s “Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet” is a multi-layered work that included the bass and regular clarinet, played by Dean himself. The complex, dense language in this music is unlike most of the music composed today. At times, it was like a conversation for six instruments with the cello at its centre. Each instrument stood out, even when they were all playing at the same time, which shows a great understanding of tonalities. This atmospheric music floated with a deeply intense presence.
If this was the quality of all online concerts, the production, the sound quality and the playing were all first-rate, it might be hard to entice people out of their homes again to attend a music hall.
A recording of the concert can be accessed here until 8.30pm, August 25, 8:30pm.
REVIEW
AUGUST 24, 2021
CITY NEWS, CANBERRA
Ensemble Q is an Australian collective group. They performed in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Studio in Brisbane for more than 250 people. Formed in 2017 by Paul and Trish Dean they now include former Canberran Virginia Taylor, who was the associate Professor of flute at the Australian National University for more than 25 years.
Performing in Ensemble Q were Paul Dean clarinet and artistic director, Trish Dean cello and artistic director, Virginia Taylor flute, Huw Jones oboe, Peter Luff horn, David Mitchell bassoon.
Watching and hearing an online concert is best with a quality screen and speakers. Fortunately, with my home music studio, I have both, and the experience made the music come alive. Beginning with “Syrinx” by Debussy for solo flute played by Taylor, the floating suspended sound of this music echoed warmly and clearly, so much so I could hear every breath. Sublime.
Beethoven’s “Variations” on “Là ci darem la mano” for oboe, cello, and clarinet sounded just like being there. This highly enjoyable and playful music had an even balance across the instruments, and it stood out for its cheeky tunes. The animated performance and their timing were exquisite.
For piccolo and flute, oboe, bassoon and French horn, Ligeti’s, “Six Bagatelles for wind quintet” sounded dynamic, plus hilarious in places. Sometimes complex, sometimes clashing, but this always interesting music captivated. There is a clever use of individual sonorities throughout this dynamic music. These Bagatelles raced and glided with effecting writing and excellent playing.
“Ciaccona” from Second Suite for Cello, Op. 80 by Britten mirrored the Ligeti work for animated writing. The dexterity it takes to perform this contrasting and complex piece seemed to flow naturally for Trish Dean on cello. She made her instrument speak.
Seeing fingers perform vibrato, glissando and pizzicato up close was a music lesson that you cannot get in a concert hall. Hearing each string resonate and slowly die away was an ethereal experience.
Samuel Barber’s “Summer Music”, for the five wind players, sat well with the other 20th-century pieces. The depths of beauty in this work closely reflect the shimmering heat and slowness of a long hot summer’s day. Ensemble Q worked so well together in this and all the pieces; they are world-class players.
Paul Dean’s “Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet” is a multi-layered work that included the bass and regular clarinet, played by Dean himself. The complex, dense language in this music is unlike most of the music composed today. At times, it was like a conversation for six instruments with the cello at its centre. Each instrument stood out, even when they were all playing at the same time, which shows a great understanding of tonalities. This atmospheric music floated with a deeply intense presence.
If this was the quality of all online concerts, the production, the sound quality and the playing were all first-rate, it might be hard to entice people out of their homes again to attend a music hall.
A recording of the concert can be accessed here until 8.30pm, August 25, 8:30pm.
REVIEW
AUGUST 24, 2021
CITY NEWS, CANBERRA
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FEATURES TRISH O’BRIEN: I SEE MY ROLE AS DEFENDER AGAINST BAD REVIEWS Ahead of Ensemble Q’s first concert for 2018, the cellist talks about the new concerto written for her by Co-Artistic Director Paul Dean. by Angus McPherson on April 20, 2018 When did you first know Paul was writing a concerto for you? Paul had been talking about the concept of writing me a concerto for a long time, but we’re both pretty big dreamers so I didn’t take it particularly seriously. We do our programming for Ensemble Q at least a year in advance, and he had the idea of writing the concerto for cello with wind quintet, rather than orchestra. I take quite a bit of convincing to allow him to put me in the spotlight, but he cleverly coined it in terms of it being a chamber work with what is, of course, my favourite wind quintet, so I agreed to go ahead with it. He started writing it in late January and as we lead fairly ridiculously busy lives, it was finished last week, so I’ve had to put on the accelerator as far as learning the work goes! Read more |
FEATURES
PAUL DEAN’S BRAND NEW ENSEMBLE Q HITS BRISBANE
by Angus McPherson on May 24, 2017
The clarinettist and Head of Wind at Queensland Con hopes to make Brisbane the home of chamber music in Australia. For clarinetist Paul Dean, the inspiration to found a brand new chamber music ensemble – dubbed Ensemble Q – at the Queensland Conservatorium was driven by “a real desire to get it right.”
“Every group I have been a part of in my life has had to make sacrifices either in repertoire choices or standards,” he explains, “and my partner Trish O’Brien (cello) and I just decided it was time to finally play chamber music with the best players, programme wonderful music and support young Australia musicians and composers – all to the very highest level.”
read more...
PAUL DEAN’S BRAND NEW ENSEMBLE Q HITS BRISBANE
by Angus McPherson on May 24, 2017
The clarinettist and Head of Wind at Queensland Con hopes to make Brisbane the home of chamber music in Australia. For clarinetist Paul Dean, the inspiration to found a brand new chamber music ensemble – dubbed Ensemble Q – at the Queensland Conservatorium was driven by “a real desire to get it right.”
“Every group I have been a part of in my life has had to make sacrifices either in repertoire choices or standards,” he explains, “and my partner Trish O’Brien (cello) and I just decided it was time to finally play chamber music with the best players, programme wonderful music and support young Australia musicians and composers – all to the very highest level.”
read more...