Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël is a Christmas number with a difference. His last work and one of his most popular compositions, it was written for the Basle Chamber Choir and Orchestra in 1953. The text of the cantata is derived from liturgical and popular texts— including Psalms and part of the Latin Gloria. A notable feature is the intertwining of traditional carols in French and German: appropriate for multilingual Switzerland and also perhaps symbolizing peace among nations seven years after the conclusion of World War II. Honegger scored the cantata for solo baritone, mixed chorus, children’s choir and an orchestra including organ. The combination of the different texts and forms creates a wonderfully uplifting effect.
Michel Piquemal directs a wonderfully dramatic cast with style and passion in the smaller-scale original version of Honegger's symphonic psalm. Recommended.
Honegger was an eclectic composer whose achievement is well reflected in this stimulating compilation. Dutoit’s recording of the oratorio King David is particularly compelling: on hearing it one understands why the composer frequently returned to the formula of narrator, soloists, chorus and orchestra.
In the first three symphonies, Honegger's seriousness is communicated through rhythmically propelled melodies, biting dissonances, and vigorous counterpoint, and his block-like orchestration is calculated more for impact than for nuance. Honegger alternates between muscular developments and searching meditations, and the combative Symphony No. 1 and the uneasy Symphony No. 2 effectively play off these contrasts. A reverent tone dominates the Symphony No. 3, for orchestra, "Liturgique," but its religious feeling is born of doubt and conflict, as conveyed in the work's brutal episodes. This disc restores to the catalog the fine recordings made by Michel Plasson and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse from 1977 to 1979, digitally mastered in 1992.
The Oslo Philharmonic is a world-class orchestra, and the playing in these two Honegger symphonies is superlative. Mariss Jansons conducts with real concentration and control; his attention to matters of detail and balance serves the longer-term expressive and symphonic concerns, while the recording allows the full range of the music to be experienced. Both these great symphonies date from the war years, the Second from the dark days when Honegger lived through the occupation of Paris, the Third from 1945. In his Second Symphony the string orchestra is joined in the closing bars by a single trumpet sounding a chorale of hope; and in Jansons’s performance this image emerges naturally from the resolution of the conflicts and the strenuous rhythmic activity which have come before.
Trois chefs-d’oeuvre, dont deux quasi inconnus, interprétés de surcroît par deux interprètes épatants, la fine et véhémente Valérie Aimard et le toujours poétique Cédric Tiberghien : …un disque réellement indispensable.
The 20 th century was indeed a very fascinating time. Musically, this century offered an incomparable variety of movements. From post-romanticism, neo-classicism, im pres sionism, jazz to the most diverse developments in the field of atonal and serial music, at the same time, people were composing in a vast variety of styles. Therefore, it is difficult to assign a single style to a composer, especially since the boundaries between them were very fluid and influences from the most diverse fields can be recognized in the works of many composers. In Arthur Honegger’s case, the French influences are unmistakable. Honegger, who grew up in Zurich, spent a large part of his life in France. He there was a member of the Groupe des Six, a group of six composers, whose members included Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc.
The artistry of Holliger (b1939) prompted Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli) to call him 'The Paganini of the oboe' Holliger's mastery of the oboe ranges over a vast expanse of repertoire, from the baroque to contemporary – Bach to Berio and Zelenka to Zimmermann. His style is notable for its flexibility, agility, integrity and ability to communicate convincingly across the wide range of repertoire he performs. Holliger has done much to champion the oboe music of composers such as Zelenka and Krommer, and has also had over 100 works composed for him by composers including Berio, Carter, Henze, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Penderecki and Stockhausen.
This disc makes for a satisfying programme. I agree with its title, too, for although reference books often call Honegger Swiss he was born in Le Havre, became a pupil of d'Indy in Paris, was one of Les Six and died in the French capital. His Cello Concerto is a small work both in style and content, pastorally Gallic in feeling and with a bouncy second section and finale to its single-movement form. This is unfamiliar repertory, well written for the cello, that earns its place in the catalogue.