With its graphic imagery of war and terror, anguish and hope, it is tempting to see in Henze's cycle of nine sacred concertos a memorial for that chapter of German history that closed with the breaching of the Berlin Wall. The temptation must be resisted: the composer has refuted this interpretation absolutely, for the inspiration was both more personal, arising out of the death of his friend, the London Sinfonietta's Artistic Director, Michael Vyner in 1989 (with the Wall as impregnable as ever), and wider than the history of any one nation.
Composed between 1990 and 1992, the wholly instrumental, non-liturgical Requiem was premiered in Cologne in February last year by the forces on this first recording, a composite of live performances given seven months later. Playing and interpretation matured during the interval, resulting in a first-class performance every detail of which has been captured with exemplary clarity. The great outbursts of the Dies irae and Rex tremendae, provoked by events of the Gulf War in 1991, are handled by players and technicians alike with the same assurance as the delicacy and quietude required in the Lux aeterna and Agnus dei. If this issue lacks anything, it is ironically in the degree of spontaneity that one expects from live recordings. Rattle's accounts of the Seventh Symphony and Barcarola (12/93) had that extra edge as did the Sinfonietta's 1993 Prom performance, conducted by Oliver Knussen. The Requiem presents a musically varied picture of Henze's latest manner and deserves every success. Strongly recommended.'