Richard Wagnersche Klavierlieder

When Hans Werner Henze received a commission to instrument early lieder by Richard Wagner at the end of the 1990s, he realised that he could not simply recreate the piano part in a scoring for classical-romantic orchestra. ’It was not only my wish but also a necessity to progress much further than the path I had taken in my Wesendonck arrangements if this operation was not to prove to be an entirely superfluous exercise. Numerous changes have therefore presented themselves during this process, not arbitrarily, but out of a certain artistic curiosity: for example changes of metre, tonal and tessitura transformations and the realisation and completion of the two fragments ’Extase’ and ’La tombe dit à la rose’. I have added subsidiary voices and all manner of things, frequently concealed in the piano part, which corresponded to my intentions of focusing a spotlight on the often only allusively detected fineness of this music, thereby permitting it to unfold to its full extent of richness and radiance.’ (Hans Werner Henze)