Henze: Reinventions Arrangements of Mozart, C.P.E. Bach & Vitali Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto & Marco Angius

• Hans Werner Henze (1926 - 2012): Il Vitalino raddoppiato:
• 1 Henze: Il Vitalino raddoppiato 32:11
• Drei Mozart'sche Orgelsonaten::
• 2 Henze: Drei Mozart'sche Orgelsonaten: I. Allegro 04:05
• 3 Henze: Drei Mozart'sche Orgelsonaten: II. Andantino 02:19
• 4 Henze: Drei Mozart'sche Orgelsonaten: III. Allegro 03:21
• I sentimenti di Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:
• 5 Henze: I sentimenti di Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach 15:44
• Total Runtime 57:40

Info for Henze: Reinventions Arrangements of Mozart, C.P.E. Bach & Vitali

German composer Hans Werner Henze’s (1926–2012) admiration for the great masters of the Baroque and musical Classicism manifested in compositions born from a desire to transcribe, rework and transform 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces into new orchestral textures. The project Travestimenti (Disguises), managed by conductor Marco Angius and the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, from which this CD was created, makes reference to Henze’s ‘reinventions’ of masterpieces by Mozart, C.P.E. Bach and Vitali, clothed in new, modern fashion.

For the Drei Mozart’sche Orgelsonaten, Henze takes up three of Mozart’s one-movement Kirchensonaten (church sonatas or trio sonatas). Sonatas 17 and 15 are in an Allegro tempo, whereas the Sonata K.67 is marked Andantino, so Henze, in his transcription, places the latter between the two livelier tempos, thus reconstructing the tripartite structure of a classical three-movement sonata. Scored for an ensemble of 14 players that includes the less common, softer variants oboe d’amore and viola d’amore, it aims to underline the darker instrumental timbres, favouring the sombre sonorities of the alto flute in G, the bass flute in C, the bass clarinet and the bassoon.

During the last year of his life, in 1787, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composed a Fantasia libera per tastiera sola (Free Fantasia for keyboard alone) which he expanded into the Clavier-Fantasie mit Begleitung einer Violine (Fantasy for harpsichord with violin accompaniment), one of his most personal and expressive works. Henze transcribed it for solo flute, harp and strings, aiming to project the extremely interesting and expressive harmonic material of the composition into a larger instrumental apparatus, thus making its future-oriented harmonic structures more manifest and moulded. He proposed two options for division of the: string quartet + string quintet or string quartet+ tutti (the latter version is recorded here).

Although it was probably composed in the early 18th century, Vitali’s Ciaccona ‘Il Vitalino’ – whose musical form is inspired by dance and consists of variations on a ground bass – was only rediscovered in 1867, published by the German virtuoso violinist Ferdinand David.

Henze’s Il Vitalino raddoppiato – called “raddoppiato” (“doubled”) because of his extension of the composition by means of interpolated variations of each original section in the style of 18th-century doubles – retains Vitali’s bass almost throughout the entire composition. It alternates Vitali’s variations on his chaconne theme with Henze’s variations of Vitali’s variations, in an ever-changing dialogue between the 18th-century past and Henze’s present.

Anna Tifu, violin
Mario Caroli, flute
Emanuela Battigelli, harp
Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto
Marco Angius, conductor

Marco Angius
is a leading conductor in regard to the modern and contemporary repertoire.

He conducted the Ensemble Intercontemporain, London Sinfonietta, Tokyo Philarmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna and del Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana and Orchestra del Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Orchestra della Toscana, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Muziekgebouw/Bimhuis di Amsterdam.

He has opened the 2018/2019 opera season of Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and, in 2016, the opera season of Teatro La Fenice with Aquagranda by Filippo Perocco (2017 Abbiati Prize); in the same year, he inaugurated the Biennale Musica di Venezia with Inori by Stockhausen. He conducted Kát’a Kabanová by Janáček at Teatro Regio in Turin under the direction of Robert Carsen and the new edition of Prometeo by Luigi Nono at Teatro Farnese in Parma, as well as Medeamaterial by Dusapin (2018 Abbiati Prize), Il suono giallo by Alessandro Solbiati (2016 Abbiati Prize), Jacob Lenz by Wolfgang Rihm, Don Perlimplin by Bruno Maderna and Luci mie traditrici by Salvatore Sciarrino under the direction of Jürgen Flimm.

In 2018 he was at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with the diptych Sancta Susanna by Hindemith and Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni. Other significant productions has been Aspern by Sciarrino at Teatro La Fenice, La volpe astuta by Janáček at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (where he was also assistant of Pappano for the Guillaume Tell by Rossini), L’Italia del destino by Luca Mosca and La metamorfosi by Silvia Colasanti, both at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Formerly Principal Conductor of the Ensemble Bernasconi of Accademia Teatro alla Scala, since 2015 he is the conductor and artistic director of Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, wherewith he conducted the complete Symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert. His large discography includes Die Kunst der Fuge by Bach (Stradivarius), Abyss by Donatoni (Stradivarius), Manhattan bridge by Traversa (Neos), Noise by Adámek (Wergo), Altri volti e nuovi by Sciarrino (Decca), Risonanze erranti and Prometeo by Nono (Shiiin and Stradivarius), Pierrot lunaire by Schönberg (Stradivarius), Die Schachtel by Evangelisti (Stradivarius), L’imbalsamatore by Battistelli (Stradivarius).

By Sciarrino, he has also recorded - always for Stradivarius - a series of relevant records such as Luci mie traditrici, Le stagioni artificiali, Studi per l’intonazione del mare, Cantare con silenzio.

In 2007 he won the Amadeus Prize with Mixtim by Ivan Fedele, of whom he also recorded the entire opera for violin and orchestra.

Marco Angius is the author of several essays and books such as Come avvicinare il silenzio (Rai Eri, 2007) and Del suono estremo (Aracne, 2014).

Booklet for Henze: Reinventions Arrangements of Mozart, C.P.E. Bach & Vitali