There is no doubt that the present CD has an especially personal meaning for Juliane Banse (soprano), because it celebrates her many years of association with all three composers, Wolfgang Rihm, Aribert Reimann and Hans Werner Henze.

Juliane Banse met these composers at the beginning of her career and still enjoys a close friendship with them. A close collaboration has led over the years to the premiere of many of their works.

It is not surprising that Reimann’s "Drei Gedichte der Sappho" [Three Poems by Sappho] and Rihm’s "Aria/Ariadne" (a “Scenaria” for soprano and small orchestra) are dedicated to her and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Although Juliane Banse did not have regular contact with the composers during the period when these works were written, she says she had complete confidence that the pieces would be composed with her in mind and appropriate for her voice. The finished works justified this confidence.

The third piece on this CD was written before Juliane Banse was born, but she does have a connection to Hans-Werner Henze: in the opera "L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe" [The Hoopoe and the Triumph of Filial Love], from 2003, Henze wrote a role especially for her voice, and she was intensely involved in the compositional process.

First Recordings (1-3, 9)

production: Saarländischer Rundfunk/Südwestrundfunk