Hans Werner Henze - Symphonies Nos.7 and 8

Hans Werner HENZE (1926-2012)

Symphony No. 7 for large orchestra (1983/84) 

Symphony No. 8 for large orchestra (1992/93) 

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Marek Janowski

rec. November 2006 (7), February 2007 (8), 

Jesus Christ Church, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany

Issued in 2008 contains Henze’s Symphonies 7 and 8. Around fifteen years elapsed between completion of the Sixth Symphony and the appearance of the Symphony No. 7 for large orchestra. Considered by some as Henze’s finest symphony he wrote the four movement score during 1983/84, around the time of finishing his opera Die englische Katze (The English Cat). Henze found inspiration from the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin and also from aspects of the German poet’s life. It was Gianluigi Gelmetti who conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker in the premiere in December 1984 at the Philharmonie, Berlin. Titled Tanz (Dance) the opening movement conveys a curious sense of weightlessness as if floating in space. Subsequently the music becomes sharply angular, developing an angry and unruly character. Described by Henze as “A kind of ode of mourning, a lament, a monologue” the beginning of the second movement has an airless feel with that recurring sense of weightlessness. A prominent oboe duet sings a curious lament before the writing increases in heft becoming angry before returning to the muggy atmosphere and sense of floating. Gathering in pace and weight the music belches out a series of hostile outbursts. Inspired by Hölderlin’s mental illness and subsequent detention in an asylum the third movement with its steely grinding quality has a chilling coldness that must surely represent the poet’s torment. The finale is a representation of Hölderlin’s poem Hälfte des Lebens (Half of Life) and like the poem is in two divergent parts. According to Henze the opening section is a vision of a “deserted, cold, and speechless world” – a realm of icy beauty. The highly agitated and dark second section becomes increasingly angry and suddenly stops.

 

The three movement Symphony No. 8 for large orchestra was composed in 1992/93 around the time Henze was beginning work on his one act opera Venus und Adonis. It was Seiji Ozawa who conducted the premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in October 1993 at the Symphony Hall, Boston. During his writing of the Eighth Symphony Henze stated he was greatly inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The opening Allegro, based on Oberon asking Puck to seek out the magic flower and Puck’s line “I'll put a girdle round the earth / In forty minutes”, is symbolised by the wide dynamics and tempo fluctuations. These evince a strong sense of journeying at speed. Henze described the central Ballabile as a “light-heartedly executed rondo form”. Here we have the fairy queen Titania, having drunk the sap of the magic flower, trying to seduce Bottom. This is appealing music, high spirited with a sense of endless revolving, becoming progressively more agitated and dizzy. The finale, an Adagio, represents Puck’s speech “If we shadows have offended” and proclaims that the adventures were but a dream. A convincing surreal quality is conveyed successfully with a strengthening tension before all fades away to leave the world of the fairyland in peace and contentment.