‘The form is strong. The imagery is eloquent. This is a lyrical, impassioned, masterly and very powerful composition: a humanist Passion, and a major piece of 20th-century music.’ So wrote Andrew Porter when reviewing Henze’s DG recording of Das Floss der Medusa in these pages in 1970. Despite being widely recognised as one of the composer’s most significant works, the DG recording of the oratorio remained the only one available until the arrival of Peter Eötvös’s 2017 live version for SWR Classic almost half a century later. Capriccio’s new release, recorded live around the same time, now brings a third version and a different ending into contention.

Although Henze was later dismissive of his own recording, made during rehearsals for a first performance in Hamburg that was infamously abandoned after a disturbance brought heavy-handed police intervention, it nevertheless conveys a strong sense of conviction and enjoys distinguished contributions by Edda Moser, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Charles Regnier. It’s also extremely well engineered, albeit with a somewhat close balance for the soloists. The more recent SWR Classic recording also features a compelling interpretation as well as a slightly more natural concert-hall balance. The latest version brings impressive performances by Dietrich Henschel as Jean-Charles, the voice of the living on the raft, and Sarah Wegener as La Mort, the personification of Death. Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s narration powerfully conveys the horror and injustice of the story, and Cornelius Meister summons playing of remarkable intensity from the orchestra during climaxes. The choral singing conveys beauty, mystery and terror, and the sound is even finer than on the earlier recordings.

A notable difference between the three recordings comes at the very end. Henze’s version closes the work with the rhythm of the then-popular protest chant ‘Ho! Ho! Ho Chi Minh!’ performed by the percussion. Eötvös’s version uses Henze’s 1990 revision, which absorbs the percussive rhythm into a fuller orchestral close. Meister retains the 1990 update but has the choir explicitly chant ‘Ho! Ho! Ho Chi Minh!’ with gradually increasing volume. It makes for a memorable close to a most impressive release.