Henze: Nachtstücke und Arien, Los caprichos & Englische Liebeslieder

Featuring

Juliane Banse
Marin Alsop
Narek Hakhnazaryan
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
Hans Werner Henze

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Henze's 'Nachtstücke und Arien' marked his departure from the dodecaphonic writing favored by the Darmstadt School, a group of avant-garde composers.

Performer Biography

Narek Hakhnazaryan, the cellist on this recording, won the gold medal in the cello division of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011 at the age of 22.

Performer Biography

Marin Alsop, the chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, was the first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship and the first woman to conduct the BBC's Last Night of the Proms.

Composer Biography

Hans Werner Henze, a German composer, fled his native country due to his Marxist political views and homosexuality, settling in Italy for the rest of his life.

Critical Reception

At the premiere of 'Nachtstücke und Arien', avant-garde composers Boulez, Nono, and Stockhausen pointedly left the hall after only a few bars, showing their disapproval of Henze's new direction.

Composition History

Henze's 'Los Caprichos' is a 'fantasia per orchestra' inspired by Francisco Goya's disturbing set of aquatint and etched prints from 1799, with each of its nine movements named after one of the prints.

Composition History

Henze's creative relationship with Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) began in the 1950s, and she served as librettist for several of his works, including 'Nachtstücke und Arien'.