Few living composers besides Hans Werner Henze have enjoyed such remarkable success across such a wide range of musical genres, from large-scale concert and stage works to chamber and instrumental pieces. Henze’s interests are wide-ranging and deeply humanistic, the music heard here drawing inspiration from Shakespearean characters (Royal Winter Music), the injustices of childhood (Three Fairy Tales from ‘Pollicino’), the poetry of Eduard Mörike (Ode to an Aeolian Harp) and the sensuous lyricism suggested by the movement titles of his triptych Carillon, Récitatif, Masque. Volume 1 is available on 8.557344.