musica viva 3: „Das Floß der Medusa“BR Chorus, WDR Chorus and BRSO, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle

This year, Hans Werner Henze, who had a lasting influence on Munich’s musical life for many years, would have been 100 years old. As a composer supported by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, the founder of Bayerischer Rundfunk’s musica viva concert series, Henze was closely associated with these concerts. He later founded the Munich Biennale for contemporary musical theatre. On 6 and 7 February, musica viva remembers Henze with a double performance of The Raft of the Medusa at the Isarphilharmonie. Commissioned by NDR in 1968 and originally titled “Oratorio vulgare e militare”, Henze and his librettist, former NWDR director Ernst Schnabel, dedicated their work to the Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara, who was assassinated in 1967. This fact, and the tense political atmosphere at the time, meant that the 1986 world premiere in Hamburg became something of scandal.

In addition to the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra under the baton of its chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the programme features Anna Prohaska (soprano), Georg Nigl (baritone) and Michael Rotschopf (narrator) as soloists. The Bavarian Radio Chorus will be joined by the WDR Rundfunkchor and the Tölzer Knabenchor.

Composition by Olga Neuwirth for Jörg Widmann

The programme will open with the world premiere of a new work by the internationally renowned Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth, who was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2022. Her rhapsody for clarinet with orchestra, Zones of Blue, is dedicated to the clarinettist Jörg Widmann, who plays the solo part himself. It was commissioned jointly by Bavarian Radio’s musica viva, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the Grafenegg Festival.

Programme

• Olga Neuwirth (*1968): Zones of Blue, rhapsody for clarinet with orchestra (2024), composition commissioned by musica viva / BR, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the Grafenegg Festival; world premiere

• Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012): Das Floß der Medusa (The Raft of Medusa), oratorio vulgare e militare for soprano, baritone, narrator, mixed choir, nine boys’ voices and orchestra (1968, revised final version 1990); poem by Ernst Schnabel

With

• Jörg Widmann, clarinet
• Anna Prohaska, soprano (La Mort)
• Georg Nigl, baritone (Jean-Charles)
• Michael Rotschopf, narrator (Charon)
• Tölzer Knabenchor (rehearsed by Ursula Richter)
• Bavarian Radio Chorus (rehearsed by Max Hanft and Peter Dijkstra)
• WDR Rundfunkchor (rehearsed by Paul Krämer and Alexander Lüken)
• Paul Krämer, Alexander Lüken, rehearsal
• Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
• Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
• Norbert Ommer, sound director

BR Klassik will broadcast the concert live on Friday, 6 February at 8.03 PM. The recording will then be available online in the musica viva media library for 30 days.

Introduction (in German language) at 5:45 PM

With: Michaela Fridrich