Henze: Pollicino.(Sound Recording Review)

[] Fischer, Affolter, Brunner; Holstein, Schendel, Lisewski; Orchester aus Schulern Berliner Musikschulen, Liebrecht. Text and translation. Wergo WER 6664 2

Listeners who avoid Henze's music because he wrote that fluffy little bedside volume Music and Politics are in for a real shock here. Pollicino is a one-act musical play (or a "fairytale for music," in the composer's words) written for, and originally performed by, music students and adult amateurs in Monte Pulciano. There are roles for seven girls and seven boys, additional children and five adults. The orchestra includes recorders, Henze's beloved guitars, percussion and Orff instruments; all these call be handled by student players. Musical interest is kept high by the more complicated writing for a solo violinist and pianist, who mostly play in the interludes. But the writing for the amateur players is the work of a master on the level of Bartok, Lachenmann and Ligeti. It's difficult to imagine the variety of expression possible from these simple materials, but Henze manages even a little grandeur from his student forces. He shows how a canon between voices and recorders can be beautiful; it's also easy to teach, because everybody can learn it at the same time.

Both music and story are cunningly devised to have wide appeal. Pollicino is the smartest and quietest of seven brothers. Their parents, who are funny and also frightening, are unable to feed the boys and so abandon them in the forest. Pollicino gets them back home. ...