This work was originally written for brass band (see there). At the composer's request, his former pupil Marcel Wengler wrote an arrangement for Symphonie wind band, which is equal to the original in ever-yway. Here Henze and Wengler have given wind players a work which successfully combines a populär style and to some extent extremely witty elements with the resources of new music. It is excellent concert music for advanced and Professional orchestras.
Hans Werner Henze belongs to a small circle of internationally known cornposers of serious contemporary music. In his operas, symphonies, and music for ensembles and chamber music groups, äs well äs in his contributions to music for amateurs, there are works with a distinctive sense of form, delicate tonality and rhythmic variety which nonetheless never lose sight of that dimension of humanity.
Marcel Wengler (born 1946) is now a freelance composer. He lives in Luxemburg.