Hans Werner Henze's career is notable for his mastery of a broad range of idioms, from the post-Romantic lyricism of Cantata della fiaba estrema to the neo-classical delicacy of his chamber music to the brash modernism of Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung der Natasha Ungeheuer. Voices, written in 1973, can be heard as a compendium of many of the types of music he had embraced. It's a piece that, as a whole, should appeal to listeners who enjoy a wide spectrum of modern styles, but it has the potential to annoy anyone with ...
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Hans Werner Henze's career is notable for his mastery of a broad range of idioms, from the post-Romantic lyricism of Cantata della fiaba estrema to the neo-classical delicacy of his chamber music to the brash modernism of Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung der Natasha Ungeheuer. Voices, written in 1973, can be heard as a compendium of many of the types of music he had embraced. It's a piece that, as a whole, should appeal to listeners who enjoy a wide spectrum of modern styles, but it has the potential to annoy anyone with a low tolerance for extreme eclecticism. The song cycle, for mezzo-soprano, tenor, electronics, and a chamber ensemble, each of whose members plays a variety of instruments, sets 22 political texts by a wide range of writers, as diverse as Ho Chi Minh, Heinrich Heine, Calvin C. Hernton, and Bertolt Brecht, in English, German, Spanish, and Italian. Each song creates a distinctively individual little universe that gives voice to the author's outrage at oppression and inhumanity. The...
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