Hans Werner Henze, who turned 80 on 1 July 2006, has a rich and
varied production behind him. This spans large-scale symphonic
works to operas and ballets and covers every conceivable genre
in between. That he also devoted himself extensively to the guitar
may come as a surprise to many, but this elusive instrument obviously
played an important role in his creativeness, not only as a solo
instrument but also in chamber music. Among the solo works the
Drei Tentos (Three Attempts) have found a revered place
in many guitarists’ repertoire. These are three small pieces that
are quite easily accessible and could be a good starting point
for listeners so far unacquainted with Henze. On a much larger
scale are the two Sonatas on Shakespearean Characters,
of which number two begins this disc and number one will I hope
appear before long. Both works were prompted by Julian Bream,
who wanted something on the scale of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier
Sonata. They may not be of the same dimension but are certainly
taxing works. Together they portray nine Shakespearean characters
(there are six movements in the first sonata), beginning with
a mad king and ending with a mad queen.
There is a certain feeling of the Elizabethan age about the sonata,
even though Henze never yields to sheer pastiche. One still gets
an impression of his having listened to Dowland, at least in the
first movement, depicting Sir Andrew Aguecheek from Twelfth
Night, the gullible knight whose hair Sir Toby describes:
“it hangs like flax on a distaff, and I hope to see a huswife
take thee between her legs and spin it off”. The second movement,
Bottom’s Dream (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
is dreamlike while the final movement, Mad Lady Macbeth,
is a quite different proposition. In dissonant chords her maliciousness
is painted graphically. Towards the end her galloping madness
produces a high-strung finale. This is music that grows in stature
with every hearing. I very much look forward to hearing the first
sonata. The accomplished Franz Halász, with an impressive discography
already behind him, plays it formidably and the technical intricacies
are no obstacle for him.
In the remaining pieces he plays a more secondary role, but the
accompaniments to Drei Fragmente nach Hölderlin need an
attentive and flexible player and there seems to be a natural
rapport between singer and guitarist. There are references to
both Dowland (again!) and Britten. The vocal part is a challenge
with its range of two octaves and its atonal language with wide
leaps. Colin Balzer singing is not only technically spotless but
invested with innate feeling for nuance and extremely beautiful
tone. Much of the music is atonal but it is still melodically
attractive, even though these are not exactly tunes that you walk
away humming. Interestingly Henze indulges in a lot of melismatic
writing, bridging the gap between the 1950s and Hölderlin’s time
(the poet was born the same year as Beethoven, 1770).
Looking back is also what Selbst und Zwiegespräche (Monologues
and Dialogues) does, through a romantic harmonic language. It
is for viola, guitar and organ; the organ part is here performed
on piano. Henze instructs the musicians to play their parts as
solos as well as in combination with the others. Thus the piece,
as performed here, is in six movements; first the piano, then
the viola (very romantic!) and the finally the guitar play solo,
then the viola and the guitar get together and then the viola
and the piano. Here we get a harsher, more dissonant language
whereupon they all get together for a lush final trio.
The final piece, Neue Volkslieder und Hirtengesänge, is
also the most recent, created in 1996 but drawing on material
from the musical play Oedipus der Tyrann from 1983. Here
he uses Austrian peasant songs and boils a spicy, meaty, thrilling
pot which preferably should be consumed with a good stout. This
is burlesque, good-humoured and alert music, full of rhythmical
felicities, featuring the bassoon. Karsten Nagel’s playing is
wonderfully assured with quite the finest bassoon tone I can remember.
There are seven movements, several of them very short, and the
last but one, Abendlied (Evening Song) is a dark piece
with partly energetic machine-like accompaniments. Taken as a
whole this is great entertainment.
With good recorded sound from Bavarian Radio, a fine essay on
the music by David Truslove and great playing from all involved
this is a varied and fascinating birthday homage to Henze. It
can be confidently recommended.
Göran Forsling
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Franz Halász (guitar), Colin
Balzer (tenor)¹, Débora Halász (piano)², Gottfried Schneider (violin)º,
Sophia Reuter (viola)³º, Sebastian Hess (cello)º, Karsten Nagel (bassoon)º
