# SS 09.07.22 - Henze #5



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012)*

Symphony No. 5

1. Movimentato 
2. Adagio 
3. Moto Perpetuo

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

It's been four long years since my last Henze recommendation. Well, previous one got some mixed reviews . Henze composed the symphony for the New York Philharmonic, which premiered the work on May 18, 1963 under Leonard Bernstein, so it can't be bad. I will listen this one from my Henze boxed set:













also in youtube


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Henze: Symphonies Nos. 3-5


Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Marek Janowski


I have this one, way out of my comfort zone, but I spin it today.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I've recently bought the Henze-conducted 1-6 set so this is right up my street!

And even more recently I bought the EMI twofer with Nos. 7 & 9.


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Henze has always been a hard nut to crack for me. I need to listen to more of his music I only have the EMI set with symphonies 7 and 9 and other stuff. I'll listen to the live Bernstein NY Phil recording from 1963


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm with the composer conducted recording. I first met this work as a teenager in the early 1970s. I borrowed the Henze set from our local library and kept it for quite a while. At that time Henze's symphonies intrigued me but not enough for me to buy the set. I corrected that several decades later.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> I'm with the composer conducted recording. I first met this work as a teenager in the early 1970s.


Me too. And as been already stated Henze symphonies are not the easiest to deal with. Nevertheless, there are always some spots that make you go "_hmm, that was really interesting_"


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Interesting to note the orchestra for this includes no clarinets or bassoons, but two cors anglais, two harps and two pianos. Also prominent solo for alto flute in the slow movement.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I once got that Brilliant Classics twofer with symphonies 1-6. 1-5 are fine, I guess. Then I got to the Marxist agitprop 6th. Suffices to say I never touched the set again - or anything else by Henze.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

Vasks said:


> Me too. And as been already stated Henze symphonies are not the easiest to deal with. Nevertheless, there are always some spots that make you go "_hmm, that was really interesting_"


Which ones? And what are you comparing them to? The early symphonies are extremely conservative and easily digestible. Stravinskian Neoclassical. Can't get easier to deal with than that. And the late ones? (7-10). They're atonal, but man, they sound great. And he is STILL a conservative. For the entirety of his career. He was only a serialist (which doesn't necessarily make you a deviant) for a brief period in his early years and did not incorporate anything truly avant-garde from Darmstadt into his writing. The 6th symphony is probably the most abrasive, but it really depends on what you're comparing it to. It's really nothing at all as hard to digest as many Carter orchestral works, for example. Even the late symphonies aren't.

He never uses aleatoric, microtonal, noise, or any avant-garde techniques. It's very traditional. The orchestration is lush and beautiful. Satisfying. Envelops you with glowing temperate sounds (almost like listening to a large concert band) like taking a warm bath in atonality.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

FYI--for the "early" symphonies in the post above, I mean 1-3. Mid-symphonies would be 4-6. Late 7-10.


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