A proponent of eclectic lyricism, Hans Werner Henze experimented with Boulezian serialism before partially turning away from it and embracing a varied musical language influenced by post-Romanticism, the Second Viennese School, as well as jazz, folk songs, and revolutionary songs. A deeply committed artist with close ties to communism, he is best known for his operas but also for his symphonies: the highly expressionist Ninth, whose premiere recording by Ingo Metzmacher we are reissuing, is dedicated to the martyrs of German anti-fascism.