Juliane Banse, Christoph Poppen and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern are presenting Nachtstücke und Arien in an intimate and moving interpretation, which most certainly has been nourished by profound impulses of the friendship between Juliane Banse, Christoph Poppen, and the composer.

The piece consists of three nocturnes and two arias on poems by Ingeborg Bachmann, Im Gewitter der Rosen und Mit schlaftrunkenen Vögeln. It marks the beginning of the disrespect shown to Henze by his colleagues since the first performance in 1957. However, this piece to this day is part of the world wide concert repertoire.

The performers are enjoying a close relationship to the two other composers presented on this CD, Aribert Reimann and Wolfgang Rihm (both close friends to Henze). Thus, this CD production can be seen as a rather intimate hommage of the singer and the conductor to the performed composers.

Aribert Reimann: Drei Gedichte der Sappho translated by Walter Jens, for soprano and nine instruments

Hans Werner Henze: Nachtstücke und Arien to poems by Ingeborg Bachmann

Wolfgang Rihm: Aria/Ariadne „Szenarie“ for soprano and small orchestra to poetry by Friedrich Nietzsche