Orchestral Works 2

The three orchestral pieces on this CD span a period of 50 years, beginning with the Piano Concerto No. 1 composed in 1950 by the then 24-year-old Henze and ending with "Scorribanda sinfonica" (literally, "symphonic bandit's raid") commissioned by the NDR Symphony Orchestra for Henze's 75th birthday in 2001, in which the composer, with the perspective of several decades' distance, revisits his ballet music "Maratona" created in 1956. Henze: "Elements from the older piece reappear on and off like shadows under the surface of the new one, more or less like vague memories, images of young people suffering from pain and despair in their struggle for survival in a barbarous, pitiless modern world."