Topic: Hans Werner Henze symphonies

[CRCulver]

Rattle described the Seventh as "insane light music". To me too it comes across as airy, shrill and without any sense of weight or depth.

[karlhenning]

That's not how I should have described the Seventh at all.  Rattle probably has his reasons, but the music is bigger than his brochure for it.

[Lethevich]

It might also be worth checking the 10th, which I recall being very much along the lines of the 7th, but with more rounded-edges.

[Scarpia]

Well, I've decided to pony up for this one:



The price is outrageous in the US as in import, but direct from mdt it is just annoyingly full price.

[Cato]

That's not how I should have described the Seventh at all.  Rattle probably has his reasons, but the music is bigger than his brochure for it.

Yes, I have that CD!  Henze and "light music" - whether "insane" or not - practically never go together!

Certainly if one follows the progression through the first six symphonies, you should be able to hear its ancestry: Lethe earlier mentioned the Fifth Symphony.

The pro-Communist political aspect of the Sixth Symphony I just try to ignore.   

[The new erato]

Well, I've decided to pony up for this one:



The price is outrageous in the US as in import, but direct from mdt it is just annoyingly full price.

There are occasional Wergo sales (I  can remember a couple over the last 1-2 years) on europadisc or mdt where you might be able to save a couple of quid.

I put thing in wishlists, and when sales occur I search the lists for the relevant labels.

[RJR]

A champagne popper for a champagne Communist. How appropriate.

I'm sure that a list of Capitalist Champagne poppers could easily stretch around the earth. I doubt it would for the Commuist Champagne poppers.

[snyprrr]

Well, I've decided to pony up for this one:



The price is outrageous in the US as in import, but direct from mdt it is just annoyingly full price.

How was it?

[snyprrr]

Well, I've decided to pony up for this one:



The price is outrageous in the US as in import, but direct from mdt it is just annoyingly full price.

For some reason I had to notion to listen to something by Henze and got this recording for about one dollar, used, on Amazon marketplace.



My lord, what horseshit!  How anyone can persuade themselves to sit through this is beyond me!  Then I read that it was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic to celebrate their centenary in 1982.  Ok, clearly they were trying to thumb their noses at Karajan, who they knew wouldn't touch this thing with a 10 foot pole.   This is the sort of recording I have to keep on my shelves to remind myself never, ever, never, ever to get another recording of any "music" by Henze.

Had to listen to the Berg chamber concerto immediately afterward to clean the palette.

How's that change of heart coming along? How's that 7-8?

[Lethevich]

I still maintain that if you like the idea of Henze, but find, say, nos.5 or 7 too jagged, then no.10 is a good port of call. It's very similar to certain earlier pieces but is smoother and less aggressive.

[karlhenning]

I like that 7-&-8, but you probably knew that.

[snyprrr]

For some reason that DG set is becoming my go to Symphony set to listen to in the car. Perhaps it is because there are 6 Symphonies that I'm not that familiar with, haha!

So, I've been listening a lot to No.4, which I like very much. It definitely feels smooth and comfortable to me. It doesn't seem to have great peaks and valleys, but has a roundness I like. Very dark green and grey-blue.

No.5, in three mvmts., from 1962, is a lot more vigorous, yet still retains the sound of a typical Symphony (for 1962, that is). Once again, I just like the flow of this piece.

No.1, rewritten for chamber orchestra (in 1963), I really like. The slow mvmt. sounds like a Stravinsky melody (or is it a neo-classical melody, haha?). The thinner orchestration gives a really nice, tight, compact sound to the proceedings.


Perhaps Henze has a very refined sense of contour. Whatever his gifts, I find a certain freshness in these Symphonies that I don't know who I would compare them to. I'm not yet too familiar with Hartmann, but Henze certainly doesn't sound like Pettersson. Perhaps it's just that Henze's soundworld subconsciously has the hustle-bustle of the Modern World coursing through it. They do sound like LvB modelled pieces for a more Industrial World?

So, howz bout it? What about Symphonies 1-5??

[Kontrapunctus]

For such a major living composer and symphonist it is odd that one cannot currently obtain CDs of the 8th or 9th symphonies.

Here's No.8: http://www.amazon.com/Henze-Symphonie-No-Nachtstucke-Arien/dp/B001AMM3C0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1300423369&sr=8-3
Here's No.9: http://www.amazon.com/Henze-Symphony-No-Rundfunkchor-Berlin/dp/B002DYLTZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1300423458&sr=8-1

or No. 7 & 8: http://www.amazon.com/Hans-Werner-Henze-Symphonies/dp/B001ERJV0I/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_2
or No. 7 & 9: http://www.amazon.com/Hans-Werner-Henze-Symphonies-Barcarola/dp/B001LTPOSW/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_3

[snyprrr]

For some reason that DG set is becoming my go to Symphony set to listen to in the car. Perhaps it is because there are 6 Symphonies that I'm not that familiar with, haha!

So, I've been listening a lot to No.4, which I like very much. It definitely feels smooth and comfortable to me. It doesn't seem to have great peaks and valleys, but has a roundness I like. Very dark green and grey-blue.

No.5, in three mvmts., from 1962, is a lot more vigorous, yet still retains the sound of a typical Symphony (for 1962, that is). Once again, I just like the flow of this piece.

No.1, rewritten for chamber orchestra (in 1963), I really like. The slow mvmt. sounds like a Stravinsky melody (or is it a neo-classical melody, haha?). The thinner orchestration gives a really nice, tight, compact sound to the proceedings.


Perhaps Henze has a very refined sense of contour. Whatever his gifts, I find a certain freshness in these Symphonies that I don't know who I would compare them to. I'm not yet too familiar with Hartmann, but Henze certainly doesn't sound like Pettersson. Perhaps it's just that Henze's soundworld subconsciously has the hustle-bustle of the Modern World coursing through it. They do sound like LvB modelled pieces for a more Industrial World?

So, howz bout it? What about Symphonies 1-5??

Once again pulled out the Henze DG set. It seems this is one of the few Symphonic Cycles that I seem to crave. Perhaps it is because he is complex enough, yet, they are still 'normal' music. There is also a lushness and generosity of atmosphere that keep me coming back.

I really like the snarling brass in the first movement of No.5.


Well, ok, I've got nothing, haha,... but, anyone else listening lately?

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

This is another composer I *took a  chance* with, can't recall why i shut the cd off [....]

So though Bartok is not completely original in WP, he manages to transcend Stravinsky's RoS.

Vintage paulb!

[eyeresist]

My Henze 1-6 set landed yesterday, and I listened to 1 this morning. For the work of a 21-22 y.o. kid, this symphony is pretty impressive. (Though perhaps a little too much Stravinsky influence for my taste.) Listening to this, I'm wondering if this is what early/middle-period Prokofiev might have sounded like, had he abandoned tonality.

[snyprrr]

For some reason that DG set is becoming my go to Symphony set to listen to in the car. Perhaps it is because there are 6 Symphonies that I'm not that familiar with, haha!

So, I've been listening a lot to No.4, which I like very much. It definitely feels smooth and comfortable to me. It doesn't seem to have great peaks and valleys, but has a roundness I like. Very dark green and grey-blue.

No.5, in three mvmts., from 1962, is a lot more vigorous, yet still retains the sound of a typical Symphony (for 1962, that is). Once again, I just like the flow of this piece.

No.1, rewritten for chamber orchestra (in 1963), I really like. The slow mvmt. sounds like a Stravinsky melody (or is it a neo-classical melody, haha?). The thinner orchestration gives a really nice, tight, compact sound to the proceedings.


Perhaps Henze has a very refined sense of contour. Whatever his gifts, I find a certain freshness in these Symphonies that I don't know who I would compare them to. I'm not yet too familiar with Hartmann, but Henze certainly doesn't sound like Pettersson. Perhaps it's just that Henze's soundworld subconsciously has the hustle-bustle of the Modern World coursing through it. They do sound like LvB modelled pieces for a more Industrial World?

So, howz bout it? What about Symphonies 1-5??

No.6

Very raucous this time around. I like the banjo, the odd stuff, the jazzy,... but I found a lot of it to be too noisy for me this day. Still,  it's worth coming back to later.

Nos. 2-3

Prokofiev-meets-Hartmann? I like these just fine, wondering which I'd like better, Henze or Hartmann (I still haven't really sampled the Hartmann 1-5 and 6-8)? There's really nothing to say here other than superlative mid-century Symphonies of delicacy and sumptuousness and very young and modern sounding in a brisk urban, cosmopolitan way.

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

This thread just doesn't get enough love.

[BeefOven!]

I think I now what Mishugina means. There is a crepuscular nocturnal feel apparent sometimes in all three composers' work that is similar. But fundamentally (certainly with the early symphonies) the similarity is with Stravinsky and Webern.

[BeefOven!]

*Berg, not Webern