Violin Concertos 1 & 3
Henze's music seems to reflect the violent contrasts of his life. Born in 1926, drafted into the German army and captured by the British in 1944, he resumed his interrupted musical studies after the War and established a successful career as conductor and composer. However, unable to endure Germany's political and cultural climate, he fled to Italy in 1953, never to return except for performances of his works. The two concertos recorded here were written 50 years apart. Though very different, they share certain characteristics. Soloist and orchestra seem engaged in a confrontation rather than a collaboration: primarily turbulent, loud, dissonant tuttis crash into the violin's lyrical, songful solos and brilliant cadenzas. It feels as if the soloist were trying to calm the orchestra's furious outbursts and affirm the existence of peace and beauty, though the violinist starts the First Concerto with a violent outburst. The Third Concerto was inspired by Thomas Mann's novelDoctor Faustus. Each movement depicts a specific character and situation. It begins with a slow, soft, and seductive melody, which is interrupted by ear-splitting orchestral crashes. These concertos must be among the most difficult in the literature, taxing the violinist's virtuosity to the utmost. They keep the soloist in the highest register for long stretches and also entail leaps across the fingerboard, dizzying speeds, and double, triple, and quadruple stops. Peter Sheppard Skaerved, Henze's long-time collaborator, completely inhabits the music, which he has widely performed and recorded to great acclaim. His playing is truly breath-taking: effortless, impeccably in tune, invariably pure and beautiful in sound and constantly expressive. The Five Night-Pieces, composed during sleepless nights, were written for him and Aaron Shorr and premiered by them at their debut as a duo.--Edith Eisler