Henze's Benz

[Mirror Image]

Masterpiece.  Same style as the early symphonies.  If you look at the prices of Undine alone and the box, the box is a steal.

Of course, Undine has been reissued since through Decca:

[asin]B0071AGNN0[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Masterpiece.  Same style as the early symphonies.  If you look at the prices of Undine alone and the box, the box is a steal. 

Of course, Undine has been reissued since through Decca:

[asin]B0071AGNN0[/asin]

Thanks.

[snyprrr]

Symphony No.2 (1949)

I've just started on No.2. Again, I like it well enough...

[Cato]

Symphony No.1 (1947)

I don't know what's not to like about this. It's the 1962 Chamber Orchestra orchestration , and has a pleasant Stravinskian air, especially the woodwinds in the slow mvmt.

Well, I mean, really,... off to No.2!

Symphony No.2 (1949)

I've just started on No.2. Again, I like it well enough...

Many thanks!  My retro review is on hold until tomorrow: Symphony #4 is next on my countdown to #1.  I think you are correct: the earlier symphonies have their charms.

[snyprrr]

Many thanks!  My retro review is on hold until tomorrow: Symphony #4 is next on my countdown to #1.  I think you are correct: the earlier symphonies have their charms.

No.2 turned out to be a lot more Hartmann angst than the really rather charming No.1; but the conviction behind No.2 kept the interest up until the end.

No.3 ups the "think about it" quotient with my favorite Henze movement so far, the seemingly BAZ inspired jazz inflected finale.



So, between 1-5, No.4, the one I thought I liked the best, turns out to be my least favored, even though it originally turned me on with its linking structure, so Darmstadt! And, it is a bit hyper-emotional in content. By contrast, No.5 came off as the best integrated and most stimulating in utterance and delivery.

The sound on that DG set is frighteningly good!

[Cato]

No.2 turned out to be a lot more Hartmann angst than the really rather charming No.1; but the conviction behind No.2 kept the interest up until the end.

No.3 ups the "think about it" quotient with my favorite Henze movement so far, the seemingly BAZ* inspired jazz inflected finale.


So, between 1-5, No.4, the one I thought I liked the best, turns out to be my least favored, even though it originally turned me on with its linking structure, so Darmstadt! And, it is a bit hyper-emotional in content. By contrast, No.5 came off as the best integrated and most stimulating in utterance and delivery.

The sound on that DG set is frighteningly good!

* For those who do not understand the reference, BAZ = Bernd Alois Zimmermann, I assume, and NOT movie director Baz Luhrmann.

I have re-listened to the Fourth and the Third, and am finding that, as I go backward into time, I find the symphonies improving! 0:)

The Fourth was intended to be music for the second act for an opera (Koenig Hirsch ) and so has a more evocative, angularly lyrical aspect now and then.  It is less successful than another symphony based on operatic music, i.e. the Prokofiev Third Symphony.  The shadows of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and, at times, Karl Amadeus Hartmann can be heard now and then, which is not necessarily bad by any means.  I find the music to be less episodic and more integrated than the Fifth and Sixth, although "episodism" is maybe why I find Henze's music problematic.

The Third Symphony has a "classical" outline: Invocation of Apollo, Dithyramb, and Conjuring Dance.  Again, there is a meandering, episodic aspect to the music, which makes it fine for a movie or even a cartoon score: at times I could imagine a 1950's detective movie with fights in dirty alleys.     Saxophones are thrown in now and then to provide an illusion that "jazz" is occurring.     The last movement is probably the strongest, so Snyprr is right: this work has some nice moments to "think about" ! 0:)

[Karl Henning]

Saxophones are thrown in now and then to provide an illusion that "jazz" is occurring. 

Wicked, but fair  0:)

. . . so I just lucked out, by chancing to revisit Henze via the Conjuring Dance? Hey, I'll take it!

[Cato]

Wicked, but fair  0:)

. . . so I just lucked out, by chancing to revisit Henze via the Conjuring Dance? Hey, I'll take it!

  Sure, why not?! 

Later today I hope to revisit the Second Symphony.

[Cato]

  Sure, why not?! 

Later today I hope to revisit the Second Symphony.

And so I have!  Keep in mind that my first impressions of the first five symphonies go back nearly 50 years!  I heard them again about 20 years ago, and my impressions had not improved.

The Second Symphony - like the Fourth - shows its DNA from certain composers, and this time I believe Karl Amadeus Hartmann's shadow is the largest: there were a few moments which, if one knows Hartmann's works very well, or certain works of Ernst Krenek, would give one the idea that they were more than an homage to the older composers!  0:)  Of course they are not! 

I found the first movement to be the most intriguing, with things sliding rather downhill after that in the next two.  Again, there are some moments with a cinematic atmosphere, and they are well done. 

[Karl Henning]

It's really got to be better than "good movie music," hasn't it?

[Cato]

It's really got to be better than "good movie music," hasn't it?

I keep hoping that it must be!  0:)

In fact, I tried the Third Symphony again this morning, but the "noir-detective-movie (Mike Hammer) c. 1955" atmosphere kept coming back to me!  Certainly others may not hear such things in the music: my reaction could be rather...eccentric. 

[snyprrr]

Wicked, but fair  0:)

. . . so I just lucked out, by chancing to revisit Henze via the Conjuring Dance? Hey, I'll take it!

I think you did. It certainly impressed me as a very kaleidoscopic dance that I might call pre-historic Zimmermann. Orchestration and colour are definitely part of Henze's tool-box. And, I liked the jazz bits- I find ALL "Composer Jazz" to sound like this, but, in brief five second spurts, it sounds to me like genius. Ralph Shapey might overdo the jazz sometimes for my tastes,... or not, but it can get noisy noisy noisy...

[Karl Henning]

And I shall indeed embark on the combination of revisitation and new discovery appropriate to the first 8 symphonies (I think I have 7 & 8, or it may be 8 & 9 . . . .)

[North Star]

https://www.youtube.com/v/s1SAYYYqeQo

https://www.youtube.com/v/OX-wLIreYjE

Bump.  0:)

[Karl Henning]

Note taken 

[snyprrr]

Symphony No.6 (1969)

I excitedly have gotten to the end of Round1 of the DG traversal. I saved 6 for last, since that's what you all were discussing when I happened upon your Posts.

So, 1) It's pretty flippin' noisy, lol! But, there is so much going on, there is not much time for bluntness. For some reason, I actually can hear the humid Cuban air in this music, the tropical and the street intermixing.

2) Hey! A banjo! Well, now it sounds Vietnamese to me! I'm still in rapture over hearing that banjo. Oh, and here is a harpsichord flourish. And there's a vibraphone, thankfully minimally used.

3) And then there's the contact-mic solo violin, which almost gives this a Schnittke-esque carnival atmosphere Violin Concerto.

4) And then there are passages of High Modernism that sound like '60s Lutoslawski to me, very very Modern sounding. And I keep thinking "1969", and thinking of others musics, and I really came away from this (antiphonal orchestras and all!) from this thinking it was one of the glories of "'60s Classical, Dude". Only when I reflect on "attitude", and knowledge of the back-story, do I get a "hipper than thou" feeling, that, still, seems somewhat justified. Are there other Henze works from the period that are as wild?: I recall a Violin Concerto with tape and speaker?



So, I had a very positive experience with No.6 this time, but that is only because I only heard the music. I didn't even "hear" that 'Song of Freedom', it all sounded to me like a dodecaphonic(?) Villa-Lobos on Hunter Thompson's drug regime!


LET ME MAKE A LIST OF HIS "CONCERTOS" TO SEE WHERE THEY STAND...

[snyprrr]

Violin Concerto No.1 (1947)
Violin Concerto No.2 (1971) I think this is the famous tape+speaker work?
Violin Concerto No.3, '3 Potraits from T.Mann's Doktor Faustus' (1996)



Piano Concerto No.1 (1950)
Piano Concerto No.2 (1967) ...or is it this one?



'Ode an den Westwind' (Cello Concerto;1953)
Double bass Concerto (1966)
Double Concerto (harp,oboe;1966) "Holliger+Holliger"
'Englische Liebslieder' (Cello Concerto;1984-85)
'Requiem: 9 geistlische Konzert' (1990-91)


Sonata per archi (1957-58)
Fantasia for strings (1966)
Seconda sonata per archi (1996)

[Karl Henning]

So, I had a very positive experience with No.6 this time, but that is only because I only heard the music. I didn't even "hear" that 'Song of Freedom', it all sounded to me like a dodecaphonic(?) Villa-Lobos on Hunter Thompson's drug regime!

What's not to like? 

[Cato]

Symphony No.6 (1969)...

So, I had a very positive experience ...

Oh, so the preceding was NOT ironic!   Glad to know that you found it of interest!  I will probably give it another shot to see if I like it better.

it all sounded to me like a dodecaphonic(?) Villa-Lobos on Hunter Thompson's drug regime!

I believe it is more "caphonic" than "dode" !   0:)

Soon, Symphony I, and then I will look into the later symphonies: VIII and IX I have never heard.

[bwv 1080]

Soon, Symphony I, and then I will look into the later symphonies: VIII and IX I have never heard.

IX is kind of a mess, reminds me of the 6th but with a choir

dont forget X though!