‘Memoirs of an Outsider’ was first shown on BBC2, if I recall, in 2001 to mark the composer’s 75th birthday. It is a beautifully photographed, almost lyrical documentary of aspects of Henze’s life and work. In this, it contrasts markedly with earlier Henze studies, such as the South Bank Show’s ‘Orpheus Behind the Wire’ of a decade or so earlier, which featured some then still evidently emotionally raw personal recollections. Here, the main biographical information comes from Oliver Tobias’ reading of extracts from Henze’s entertaining autobiography, Bohemian Fifths (Princeton UP: 2002).

Essentially, Barrie Gavin’s film is an interleaved series of interviews, in English and German (so make sure you turn the subtitles on before you watch) with the composer himself and Oliver Knussen – both shot at Henze’s lovely villa in Marino, outside Rome – Sir Simon Rattle and, in the latter stages, Markus Stenz. There are entertaining vignettes, such as of Walton, Ashton, Ingeborg Bachmann and the first meeting of the composer with his life partner, Fausto Moroni, but the omissions are curious, too: little or nothing of Henze’s relationships and collaborations with, for example, Auden, Treichel or Visconti, or the scandal of the première of The Raft of the Medusa. Gavin has also cannily selected the musical illustrations, some archival, some specially recorded – for instance, the third span of the Second Symphony – to show his output off to best advantage, so the succeeding film of a complete performance of the nine ‘sacred concertos’ that comprise the Requiem provides a quite different, and much needed, vista of the music itself. The performance, by the forces that gave the première in 1993 (it is unclear if this is the actual première) is excellent, though the sound – while very good – seems less well-focussed that the newly recorded snippets in the documentary. It’s stunning, nonetheless, and fully merits Henze’s onstage thumbs up at the end – held as the final image of the film.