Hans Werner HENZE (1926-2012)
Nachtstücke und Arien (1957) [24:47]
Los Caprichos (1963) [16:49]
Englische Liebeslieder (1984-5) [25:41]
Juliane Banse (soprano), Narek Kakhnazaryan (cello)
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
rec. 2020, February and October at ORF Funkhaus and Musikverein, Vienna
German texts and English translations included
NAXOS 8.574181 [67:23]
Henze was a prolific and uneven composer but here we have three of his most attractive works. All three were written after he had cast off his early attachment to serialism and adopted a neo-romantic style. This caused a rift with the leading avant-garde composers of the time, such as Boulez, Stockhausen and Nono, who all walked out of the premiere of Nachtstücke and Arien. Now, many years later, those avant-garde composers might well look distinctly passé (I would make an exception for Boulez) while Henze, after the usual period of neglect immediately following his death, is now being performed and recorded again.
Nachtstücke und Arien (Nightpieces and Arias) is a set of five pieces, three orchestral ones framing and enclosing two vocal ones. The texts are by the wonderful Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann (1926), who worked closely with Henze, also writing the libretti for two of his operas, Der Prinz vom Homburg (1958), Der junge Lord (1964) and also Lieder von einer Insel (1964). These poems are dominated by the fear of catastrophe, which was a central concern of that time. The orchestral writing is highly evocative and romantic, in an idiom which reminds me of Berg, though Henze has more rhythmic drive than Berg tends to have, and here we can hear the influence of Stravinsky. This is a most attractive work, and the texts and excellent translations by Peter Filkins are included in the booklet.
Los Caprichos (The Caprices) is described as a Fantasia for orchestra. The title comes from the series of engravings by Goya. These are harsh and satirical representations of contemporary Spanish society, but Goya said that they show ‘the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society.’ Henze lists the nine he chose but his music is quite different in character from Goya’s harshness and does not represent the pictures musically. Formally, the work is not a fantasia but an introduction, theme and seven variations. Each section is quite short and the work is tender and melancholy.
Englische Liebeslieder (English Love Songs) is not, as one would expect, a setting of English poems but an orchestral work with a concertante cello part. Each of the six movements is based on a specific English poem and Henze says he analysed and gave musical form to each of them. This is a technique had used several times before, for example in his early cello concerto Ode to the West Wind, based on Shelley’s poem of that name. He also said he did not want the titles published in concert programmes because ‘it would only distract the listeners, and the whole strategy . . . would be for nothing.’ They are therefore not given in the booklet note, but I am providing them here for those interested:
Robert Graves: She tells her love while half asleep
Rochester: All my past life is mine no more
Shakespeare: Blow, blow, thou winter wind (from As You Like It)
James Joyce: Sleep, now, O sleep now
[Tango: source unknown]
Shakespeare: Sonnet 128
Henze said he had forgotten where he had found the poem behind the fifth movement. Anyway, instead of a voice we have a solo cello. This part is not particularly virtuosic, but it is eloquent. Henze was writing his seventh symphony at the time, and he wanted this piece to be a complete contrast. He said: ‘The piece was to be free from unnecessary flourishes, but it was also intended to be free from the drama and darkness of my seventh symphony. Only the beautiful aspects of love, the blissful, heart-warming and rare moments of emotional calm were to find expression here.’ The writing is dense but also subtle and the work is a beautiful one.
These performances are assured and lyrical, and it was a coup to secure Juliane Banse to sing the two arias in Nachtstücke und Arien. Harek Hakhnazaryan is a fine soloist in Englische Liebeslieder. The recording is excellent and the booklet interesting. There are other recordings of all the works, notably by Michaela Kaune with Peter Ruzicka in Nachtstücke und Arien, and Knussen in the other works, with Anssi Karttunen as solo cello, both recordings on Wergo. But this is a cheaper and very acceptable version and both old hands and newcomers should be well satisfied with it.
Stephen Barber
