BR photo taken during rehearsals for Henze’s The Raft of the Medusa
Friday, February 6, 2026
Isarphilharmonie, Munich
Ambitious. Challenging. Rewarding.
Audacious is another word for Bavarian Radio able to put two demanding works together (twice, this programme is played again tomorrow night). Olga Neuwirth’s co-commissioners on this occasion include BR, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Stockholm Philharmonic. The result is Zones of Blue (Neuwirth opting for titular English). Given the clarinet and the “Blue”, one thinks of George Gershwin, his Rhapsody in that colour, which is suggested briefly a couple of times – clarinet glissando – within Neuwirth’s s provocative score of extreme dynamics, hard-line dissonance, tuned-up theatre, multiphonics for the lung-bursting soloist – Jörg Widmann astonishing in his virtuosity – the orchestra given an unstinting role of attack and creating a charred atmosphere. The twenty-minute Zones of Blue won an enthusiastic ovation.
Following the interval it was curtain-up for Hans Werner Henze’s The Raft of the Medusa. However engaging Michael Rotschopf was as narrator, declaiming without hindrance, unless one has the German, then one loses an extensive aspect of this substantial score, leaving a vivid example of 1960s’ avant-garde writing (vocal and instrumental) to convey circumstance and emotion, and (probably) political protest. As dramatic, cacophonous music, with sudden turns to affecting lyricism, if undermined by dark, sinister undertows – and given the exceptional performance, prepared to the nth degree and inspired in the rendering – then one could relish a very particular brand of communication that held its own as musically inviting or unmistakeable in its description. Of the singers, baritone Georg Nigl was compelling, reminding of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – maybe he took part in the premiere, the writing tailor-made for him – and Kathrin Zukowski managed the stratospheric Lulu-like demands without complaint. Another ovation greeted this seventy-minute rendition.
Olga Neuwirth
“Zones of Blue”, a rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra (world premiere)
Hans Werner Henze
“The Raft of the Medusa” – Oratorio for soloists, speaking voice, choir, boys’ voices and orchestra
Jörg Widmann clarinet
Kathrin Zukowski soprano
Georg Nigl baritone
Michael Rotschopf speaker
Tölzer Knabenchor
Bavarian Radio Chorus
WDR Rundfunkchor
“Hans Werner Henze was not an ivory tower composer: uncompromising as well as politically committed, he viewed composing not in terms of style but rather as a means of exploring consciousness. Das Floß der Medusa (The Raft of the Medusa), dedicated to revolutionary leader Che Guevara, caused a scandal in the heated atmosphere of the 1960s. It tells the story of the frigate Méduse, which sank in 1816, and whose passengers, abandoned by its officers, drifted on a raft in the Atlantic Ocean for four weeks – an allegory of the abuse of power by those in authority. Sir Simon Rattle has immersed himself in this music, whose dark power and impulsive despair are impossible to ignore. Jörg Widmann will also be the featured soloist in the world premiere of Zones of Blue by Siemens Prize winner Olga Neuwirth.” [BR]