Brett Dean's interests in writing his new cantata The Last Days of Socrates were both political and sonic. Coming across an old edition of philosophical dialogues by Plato with this title, the composer was taken particularly by The Apology in which Socrates's trial on a charge of ‘being a menace to society’ is dramatically recounted. Following his condemnation to death by the 501-person jury, the last dialogue in the collection Phaedo revisits Socrates in prison awaiting execution. Dean certainly has form both as a politically motivated composer – his Pastoral Symphony (2000) was a protest against the soullessness of modern living – and one with an interest in blending ancient and modern. One of his breakthrough pieces, Carlo (1997), pits sampled Gesualdo against strings to wonderful effect.