Hans Werner Henze’s choral works are not central to his oeuvre, but are in many respects fundamentally reflective of his artistic philosophy. Like all his other music, his choral works were meant to be true to real life and clearly understood by an audience. This was a fundamental diference between Henze and other composers who were active after the Second World War. While he did indeed use the same compositional techniques as his colleagues- dodecaphony, serial composition, neo-classical tonal colors- he always considered traditional forms of expression. The three choral works on this album date from 1947, 1963, and 1978. Even here, the music reflects traditional elements of western music. In recording these pieces, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgrt and the Ensemble Modern again make a key contribution to the music of an important German composer, alongside representative works by other composers such as Charles Ives, Elliott Carter, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and many more that have already been recorded by this first-class choir.