The 1950s were exceptionally eventful years for Henze‚ and these three works‚ composed between 1953 and 1958‚ strongly suggest that he was writing better music later in the decade than at the beginning. Henze identified one reason for this himself: his encounter with Stravinsky’s ballet score Agon in 1958. The immediate impact of this‚ affecting textural clarity and expressive intensity alike‚ is evident in Drei Dithyramben‚ a rarely­heard piece whose inclusion gives the disc its main value. In comparison‚ the five­movement cello concerto Ode an den Westwind (1953)‚ tends to the monochrome and monotonous: even when its loose­limbed rhythms become more active and agitated‚ contrast of mood is more apparent than real. A recording with more atmosphere and depth of perspective might have helped‚ but although this one was made in 1999‚ the sound is very dry. The other recordings were made in 1988 (Fünf Neapolitanische Lieder) and 1979 (Drei Dithyramben). Both show their age‚ yet the sharper contours of the music still register. The Neapolitan Songs were written for Fischer­Dieskau‚ and Roland Hermann is taxed by the high­lying phrases: nor is the listener’s response helped by the lack of texts in the booklet. The work is significant as an early example of the composer’s love affair with the south‚ but it is in Drei Dithyramben that the creative rewards of that obsession become fully apparent. The title’s reference to those wild hymns which celebrate the Greek Lord of Misrule‚ Dionysus‚ inspires music which seems to offer intriguing‚ even ironic dialogues between Dionysus and his mythological opposite number Apollo. The terms of reference are indeed Stravinskian‚ but the style is Henze’s own‚ and even in what amounts to a ‘historic’ recording‚ it comes across as a fine achievement.