Five Little Concertos and Ritornellos

World premiere 24. january 1988

London

London Sinfonietta

Conductor Simon Rattle

These five pieces are taken from the score of my opera “The English Cat” in which they serve as interludes, music played during the scene changes. They tell the audience of the invisible events of the drama and introduce new ones. For the concert version, I composed additional short passages to clarify the content of the individual movements. The music draws attention to certain thematic connections, including the waltz of Diabelli on which Beethoven wrote variations. The concertos themselves should be understood as small symphonic organisms whose principal thematic material is carried by the instruments named in the respective titles.

Hans Werner Henze