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With the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons. When the Grafenegg Festival commissioned Brett Dean to write his trumpet concerto Dramatis personae, it gave him the chance to fulfil his artistic fantasies on a number of levels. ‘The trumpet has something to say: it’s a herald,’ says the composer. ‘It’s an instrument with so many facets,’ he continues. ‘For that reason I let the trumpet, which I hear and see as the protagonist of a story, progress through different stages.’
Dramatis personae describes the journey of a heroic character, a ‘superhero’. Influenced by the colourful world of action films and comics, yet rooted in the true feelings of classical heroism, Brett Dean created three tableaux ‒ Fall of a Superhero, Soliloquy and The Accidental Revolutionary ‒ in which the trumpet-hero makes its way through the world. A particular motivation for the composer was the anticipation of working with soloist Håkan Hardenberger, whose virtuosity and commitment to new music he valued very highly.