Do you know Michael Endes Unendliche Geschichte? Kurt Masur asked me one day years ago. You could make an opera out of that! and gave me a copy of the book.
He knew the story from his son, who had been crazy about The Neverending Story along with all the kids his age. I read the book and was thrilled. A little boy who likes reading stories survives a series of exciting adventures and finally saves the gravely threatened land of Phantásien.
What a lovely, utterly up-to-date idea.
I got in touch with the author and corresponded with him actively until his death, as well as enjoying an unforgettable meeting with him. Michael Ende gave me a lot of tips and after having heard my Cornet opera, was really looking forward to hearing my music.
The orchestral fantasy The Land of Phantásien was written before the opera and is a purely musical encounter with the famous story. Characters and situations in The Neverending Story have provided the inspiration for individual sections of the composition, which I have made into musically autonomous movements. A narrator puts the music into its context in the plot. When composing the opera, on which I am currently working, I shall often have recourse to the musical raw material of the orchestral fantasy. My granddaughter Elsa is now an enthusiastic reader of The Neverending Story. She loves the book, has spent a lot of time drawing the characters in the story and written the closing notes of the score. This composition is dedicated to her and to all children large and small who want to save Phantasy.
(Siegfried Matthus)


CD:
Michael Heltau (narrator), Bruckner Orchester Linz, cond. Ingo Ingensand
CD Berlin Classics 0017412BC