Scorribanda Sinfonica
Commissioned by NDR-Sinfonieorchester on occasion of the 50th anniversary of 'das neue werk', Hamburg
Period of composition 2000-01
Duration circa 15 minutes
for Peter Ruzicka
World premiere
World premiere June 29th, 2001
Hamburg · NDR
das neue werk
NDR-Sinfonieorchester
Conductor Peter Ruzicka
Comment
This piece, written during the winter months of 2000-2001, consists of one movement, Allegro con fuoco, in which an old score is revisited, raided and ravished by its composer. The earlier music had been written in the mid-fifties for a stage work Maratona di Danza and for its maker, the director Luchino Visconti.
Elements from the older piece reappear on and off like shadows under the surface of new ones, like more or less vague memories, images of young people suffering pain and despair in their struggle for survival in a barbaric, pitiless modern world.
My new composition is a kind of concerto for very large symphony orchestra, an étude on constant and often rapid musical changes of mood and colours, built on a variety of rhythmic figures, incessantly and brutally pushing the music ahead. Sometimes, it is as though voices are weeping, sometimes crying out loud with pain, with anxiety, under the cold hearted pressure of an overwhelming violence.
Hans Werner Henze 2001
Instrumentation
4 Flutes | 2° and 3° doubling Piccolo 4° doubling Piccolo and Alto Flute |
4 Clarinets in B flat | 3° and 4° doubling Bass clarinet |
2 Oboes | |
Oboe d’amore | |
Cor Anglais | |
4 Bassoons | 4° doubling Contra Bassoon |
4 Horns | |
3 Trompets | |
3 Trombones | |
Tuba | |
Timpani | |
Percusion | 5 players |
I | 3 Tam-tams (small, medium, large) Chinese Gongs Side Drum Maracas |
II | Castanets 3 Tom-Toms (high, medium, low) pitched Tom-toms Guiro Crotales Ratchet Claves Sizzle Cymbal Suspended Cymbal (large) |
III | Bass Drum with Cymbal 3 Suspended Cymbals (small, medium, large) Glockenspiel Guiro 3 Bongos (high, medium, low) Ratchet |
IV | Vibraphone Matraca 2 Sistrums (medium, low) Tambourine |
V | Marimba 3 Bongos (high, medium, low) Temple Blocks |
Mallets: felt felt-leather cork leather wood brush | |
Harp | |
Celesta | |
Piano | |
Strings |