Listen & tracks
4 of 5 tracks have a preview · 4 works · 52:00
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1 The Dream David Joseph 14:36
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2 The Haunting David Joseph 16:18
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3 The Memory David Joseph 14:00
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Two Ballet ScenesDavid Joseph 2 movements7:06
- 4 By the Fountain 4:21
- 5 At the Window 2:45
Scored for a finely balanced chamber orchestra—double woodwind, brass, percussion and strings—this album brings together four compelling works written between 1986 and 1994. Each piece reveals Joseph’s distinctive voice: richly textural, psychologically evocative, and deeply attuned to gesture and movement. At the heart of the album lies a triptych of orchestral works—The Dream (1986), The Haunting (1993), and The Memory (1994)—which together form a meditation on the subconscious mind. While each stands as an independent composition, the three works are unified by their exploration of how we perceive and process the world through sensation, recollection and imagination.
The Dream, originally written to mark the 10th anniversary of the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra, unfolds as a half-waking state: fleeting impressions drift in and out of focus in a delicately layered soundscape. This recording captures a luminous and finely detailed performance conducted by John Hopkins.
In contrast, The Haunting, commissioned by Paul Sacher for the Collegium Musicum Zürich, delves into darker psychological territory. Drawing on choreographic ideas, the work evokes states of mental anguish and relentless intensity, articulated through sharply etched orchestral colour and driving momentum.
Completing the triptych, The Memory—written for Roland Peelman and the Hunter Orchestra—offers a more abstract reflection on how memory is formed. Subtle sonic gestures suggest fragments of the everyday: birdsong, shifting light, and the textures of the suburban environment, reimagined through music.
The album concludes with Two Ballet Scenes from Joseph’s 1994 ballet Pelléas and Mélisande, commissioned by Queensland Ballet. Inspired by Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist drama, these scenes vividly depict moments of intimacy and mystery, from the fateful fountain encounter to a solitary, dreamlike dance in a castle turret.
Dreams: Works for Small Orchestra is a compelling addition to the Australian orchestral catalogue—an album that invites listeners into a world where sound, movement and imagination converge.
Reviews
David Joseph has presented music that is at times dramatic, then balletic, sometimes dreamy, elegant and redolent of the great music from the early 20th century onwards. The title track, The Dream, is full of energy with grand sweeping gestures, atmospheric scale runs morphing into colourful sustained chords interrupted by aggressive outbursts. The Haunting is an example of virtuoso writing where non-stop activity from all sections of the orchestra. By the Fountain and At the Window are two miniature gems. Sweetness abounds here as if an antidote to the muscular writing of the previous works on the CD. Joseph writes music that constantly references tonality but in a refreshing way and never resorts to music that is obvious.
Artists
David Joseph
composer
David Joseph (b. 1954) is a Melbourne-born Australian composer whose orchestral and chamber music is marked by vivid colour, lyric invention and a keen ear for texture. His catalogue ranges from concertos and string studies to ballet scenes and intimate chamber scores.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Adelaide Chamber Orchestra · orchestra · track 1
- John Hopkins · conductor · track 1
- Melbourne Symphony Orchestra · orchestra · track 2
- Roger Smalley · conductor · track 2
- Hunter Orchestra · orchestra · track 3
- Roland Peelman · conductor · track 3
- Broadstock Orchestra · orchestra · tracks 4 and 5
Technical credit
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 52 minutes 0 seconds
- Release date
- 15 Sep 2025
- Categories
- Australian, Classical, Orchestral
- Musical work copyright
- © 1986, 1992, 1994 David Joseph
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2026 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3479
- EAN
- 8721416205811
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