“This is my voice. These words are my words, my mouth Speaks them, my hand writes – I am a poet. It is my fist that you hear You hear beating against your ear.”

(from “The Distant Drum” by Calvin C. Hernton)

From the hopelessness of Cuban poets (“Los poetas cubanos ya no sueñan”) to Brecht's struggle for liberation (“None or all”) and the African-American civil rights movement (“The Distant Drum”): The song collection “Voices – Stimmen” reflects Hans Werner Henze's (1926 -2012) political thinking and social commitment in all its radicalism and breadth – be it stylistically (jazz, folk songs, musical theater elements) or in the choice of instruments (harmonica, bamboo drums, accordion). His communist commitment made Henze a persona non grata for a time in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1960s, but he later became one of the most frequently performed contemporary composers. With “Voices”, ensemble unitedberlin and Vladimir Jurowski shed light on the utopias of the post-war left on the occasion of his 100th birthday.