Hans Werner Henze: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 9, Barcarola, Three Auden Songs

Disc 1
1	Barcarola, for orchestra / Hans Werner Henze
2	Symphony No. 7: 1. Tanz - / Hans Werner Henze
3	Symphony No. 7: 2. Ruhig / Hans Werner Henze
4	Symphony No. 7: 3. Unablä / Hans Werner Henze
5	Symphony No. 7: 4. Ruhig, / Hans Werner Henze
Disc 2
1	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
2	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
3	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
4	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
5	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
6	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
7	Symphony No. 9, for choru / Hans Werner Henze
8	Auden Songs (3), for teno / Hans Werner Henze
9	Auden Songs (3), for teno / Hans Werner Henze
10	Auden Songs (3), for teno / Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 9, Barcarola, Three Auden Songs
1.	Barcarola, for orchestra 21:30
	Composed by Hans Werner Henze
	Performed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
	Conducted by Simon Rattle
2.	Symphony No. 7 38:19
	Composed by Hans Werner Henze
	Performed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
	Conducted by Simon Rattle
3.	Symphony No. 9, for chorus & orchestra 53:34
	Composed by Hans Werner Henze
	Performed by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Rundfunkchor Berlin
	Conducted by Ingo Metzmacher
4.	Auden Songs (3), for tenor & piano 10:31
	Composed by Hans Werner Henze
	Performed by Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake

All Music Guide

If any admirers of the great German late-modernist composer Hans Werner Henze missed the performances on these two discs when they were first released in 1992 and 1997, they should by all means try this EMI set. The first disc features Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performing Henze's magnificently tragic "Barcarola" and his dramatic "Symphony No. 7." Rattle brings both manic energy and iron control to the music and the Birmingham musicians respond with the kind of expressive fervor usually reserved for Mahler or Bruckner. And the second disc featuring Ingo Metzmacher leading the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunchor Berlin in Henze's emotionally wrenching "Ninth Symphony" is even better. The work itself is a kind of negative Beethoven "Ninth," a choral symphony evoking not the joyous dreams of heavenly Elysium but the nightmare horrors of Nazi hell that wins through to enigmatic escape in its seventh and final movement. Metzmacher and his Berlin musicians perform with exemplary virtuosity and dedication, and it's hard to imagine how a performance of this work could possibly be more intense and effective than this one. In every case, EMI's digital recordings are wide, deep, and true, and the addition of the Henze's lyrical "Three Auden Songs" performed by tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake will serve to remind listeners that Henze is one of the supreme lieder composers of our time. James Leonard