Hans Zender (1936-1985)
Dialog mit Haydn, pour 2 pianos et 3 groupes d'orchestre
Issei no kyo, lied pour soprano et orchestre
Nanzen no kyo (Canto VII), pour 4 groupes vocaux et instrumentaux

Claron McFadden, soprano
Hermann Kretzschmar, piano
Ueli Wiget, piano
Bundesjugendorchester
Hans Zender, direction
Orchestre Symphonique de la radio de Cologne
Johannes Kaliztke, direction
Hans Zender, direction

Hans Zender works as a musician in two ways: as conductor and composer. In the meantime, composing clearly comes first for him. But Zender is not just a composer and conductor, but also a teacher, thinker and author with a far-reaching interest in the arts, cultures, and philosophies. Zender dedicated special attention to the category of “harmony” – in part arising from the ever-growing insufficiency of the tempered tuning. He has organized the offerings of the harmonic and overtone series for the musician in a system and designed an ordered harmonic structure that brings tempered and pure possibilities together. All the characteristics of Zender’s composing outlined above are combined on this CD: the recreation of a concrete music history model in “Dialogue with Haydn”, the immersion in the Asian mode of thought in the two “...no kyo” compositions, the use of microtonality in “Dialogue” and “Issei no kyo“. All three pieces share a humorous-ironic undertone.