Hans Werner Henze

Four orchestral works by Hans Werner Henze, three of them from the mid-1950s, when he was writing his third opera König Hirsch (King Stag). The fourth, La selva incantata of 1991, refers directly back to that opera, an almost unique procedure in his catalogue. König Hirsch itself was first staged at the Städtische Oper Berlin on 23 September 1956 under Hermann Scherchen. The NDR Sinfonieorchester plays under Peter Ruzicka, with Michaela Kaune as soprano soloist.

Henze was a German composer, born in Gütersloh on 1 July 1926 and died in Dresden on 27 October 2012. He studied with Wolfgang Fortner in Heidelberg, took part in the Darmstadt courses from 1946 to 1952 and moved to Italy in 1953. Ruzicka, born in Düsseldorf in 1948, is a German composer, conductor and artistic director. The disc is a coproduction with Norddeutscher Rundfunk, recorded on 19 May and 10 June 1999 in NDR's Studio 10, with support from the Pro Musica Viva Maria Strecker-Daelen Stiftung. The 34-page booklet holds a long interview with Ruzicka. In it Henze describes the score of König Hirsch as an attempt to free himself from the twelve-tone system and the dogmatic chains of the Darmstadt School.

The Drei sinfonische Etüden (1956, revised 1964), titled "Echos", "Stimmen" and "Rufe", were first heard in Hamburg in NDR's series "Das neue Werk" under Jean Martinon. The Quattro Poemi (1955), "Elogio", "Egloga", "Elegia" and "Ditirambo", were premiered in Frankfurt on 31 May 1955 by Leopold Stokowski. Nachtstücke und Arien (1957) set poems by Ingeborg Bachmann for soprano and large orchestra. Three orchestral nocturnes alternate with two arias, "Wohin wir uns wenden im Gewitter der Rosen" and "Mit schlaftrunkenen Vögeln". Gloria Davy sang the first performance at Donaueschingen under Hans Rosbaud. La selva incantata - Der verwunschene Wald (1991) is an aria and rondo for orchestra, premiered in Frankfurt by the Museum Orchestra under Hans Drewanz.

The programme lets one hear the Henze of the 1950s, the years of his move to Italy, beside his return to that material more than thirty years later.

CD, Wergo WER 6637 2, released in 2001, total time 61'18".