Throughout his life as a composer, Arthur Honegger combined within himself the characteristics of the French- and German-speaking cultural circles, which made him one of the most appealing musicians of his time. Manysidedness and openness with respect to the most varied styles, the desire and the skill to build on the tradition, as well as the courage to take up new themes and forms distinguish his oeuvre, which he created primarily in Paris, his permanent place of residence since 1913. He was among the six composers who in a curious way became members of a supposedly programmatic group, for the establishment of the “Groupe des Six” came about more or less coincidentally. In fact, Honegger abstained from the Groupe des Six’s joint theoretic statements, yet participated in mutual projects such as the collective ballet Les Mariès de la Tour Eiffel (1929/30). From youth onward, he was influenced most strongly by Richard Wagner, Max Reger, and Richard Strauss, thus by German late-Romantic music. He attended, together with Darius Milhaud, the class of André Gédalge, to again later esteem the harmonic complexity and the polyphonic richness of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music and to pick up on them in his own works. The focus of his attention was the detailed and serious involvement with each individual instrument, as was best to be achieved in chamber music. At the same time, however, he had a sense for the provocative and unconventional, as he demonstrated in his programmatic orchestral works Pacific 231 (1923) and Rugby (1928), or in his film scores. With the titles relating to the modern world, they quickly became famous. Honegger cultivated within himself a mixture of enfant terrible and solid craftsmanship, which made him to an outstanding composer in the circle of the Six.

Honegger: Miserables (Les) / Napoleon / Mermoz

The Basel Symphony Orchestra numbers among Switzerland's leading musical ensembles with some 100 highly qualified and highly motivated musicians. For decades it has produced a wide array of highlights under the batons of such conductors as Felix Weingartner, Hans Munch, Moshe Atzmon, Matthias Bamert, Gary Bertini, Pierre Boulez, Armin Jordan, Nello Santi, Mario Venzago and Walter Weller. It's CD recordings of the music of Robert Schumann, Maurice Ravel, Klaus Huber, Luigi Nono and Othmar Schoeck have received great international acclaim and many awards including Germany's Golden Tuning Fork.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Arthur Honegger: Les Aventures du Roi Pausole

Classical Music

This new release, the 14th volume in the esteemed Thomas Jensen series, includes previously unpublished broadcasts of 20th-century music, not only by figures closely associated with Thomas Jensen such as Carl Nielsen and Niels Viggo Bentzon, but also Ole Schmidt and Gunnar Berg, who wrote outside the Danish mainstream. Jensen's catholic taste and sympathy with diverse strands in European modernism is attested by his careful shaping of masterpiece by Henze, Honegger and Prokofiev.

Includes work(s) for orch by Arthur Honegger. Ensemble: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Takuo Yuasa.

Honegger by Honegger: historic recordings from 1929 to 1947. In the third leg of our pilgrimage in search of long lost sound, we brought down the from the shelves of the abundant archives of the Discothèque Centrale de Radio France, a series of recordings related to the composer, director and pianist Arthur Honegger. The was engravings of the 'Rugby' or 'Pacific. 2.3.1' symphonic movements are famous (or at least known...) but music and record lovers will notice in this new volume in the collection «Pêcheurs de perles» this rare Decca version of Symphony No.3 «Liturgique? under the direction of the author. Also to be discovered are fifteen rare melodies, presented and sung her by voices chosen by Honegger, all the more interesting since the composer himself sat at the piano. These are tones from the past in moving and ideal live interpretations. A priceless witness of Arthur Honegger's way of thinking about music.

REVIEWS:
Opera News (4/00, pp.85-86) - "...All the vocal soloists give theatrically involved, musically sound performances. [Borst] sings with an undulating beauty that makes up for occasional unintelligibility.... Fersen delivers a fearsomely effective rendition of the Prophetess's incantation..."

Also available on CD

Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher, written by the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger in 1938, is a fascinating oratorio. The text by Paul Claudel is constructed like a flashback, in which Joan looks back over her life just before she dies.

Marion Cotillard plays Joan with an intensity and sincerity that leap from the screen. The last moments of the martyr’s life, illustrated by the evocative and innovative music of Honegger, resound like a heartrending cry. With an exceptional cast of performers, this live recording offers a gripping new version of one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century music.

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REVIEWS:

Cotillard movingly captures Jeanne's wildly contrasting moods while Xavier Gallas is consoling yet determined in supporting her. Most impressive of all, though, are the searing choral contributions that are convincing in their heartfelt gallic fervor, from an oppressed people, via baying crowd to angelic host.

– BBC Music Magazine

Cotillard marvelously captures Jeanne's innocence, toughness and terrifying doubts; Gallais is compassionate, tender, and at times tellingly fierce. The impact is immeasurably heightened on DVD by our being able to see both the sorrowing beauty of Gallais's face and the extraordinary way Cotillard's eyes let us know exactly what is going on in Jeanne's mind and soul.

– Gramophone

Also available on DVD

Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher, written by the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger in 1938, is a fascinating oratorio. The text by Paul Claudel is constructed like a flashback, in which Joan looks back over her life just before she dies.

Marion Cotillard plays Joan with intensity and sincerity. The last moments of the martyr’s life, illustrated by the evocative and innovative music of Honegger, resound like a heartrending cry. With an exceptional cast of performers, this live recording offers a gripping new version of one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century music.

-----

REVIEWS:

Cotillard movingly captures Jeanne's wildly contrasting moods while Xavier Gallas is consoling yet determined in supporting her. Most impressive of all, though, are the searing choral contributions that are convincing in their heartfelt gallic fervor, from an oppressed people, via baying crowd to angelic host.

– BBC Music Magazine

Cotillard marvelously captures Jeanne's innocence, toughness and terrifying doubts; Gallais is compassionate, tender, and at times tellingly fierce. The impact is immeasurably heightened on DVD by our being able to see both the sorrowing beauty of Gallais's face and the extraordinary way Cotillard's eyes let us know exactly what is going on in Jeanne's mind and soul.

– Gramophone

The Prospero Trio – Jana Vander Schaaf Ross (violin), Nick Ross (piano), Wesley Baldwin (cello) – are heard to play on this Centaur disc four works of chamber music, three duos and a trio, by one the very best of 20th c. French composers, Arthur Honegger (1982-1955), from recordings made in 2009, 2012 & 2013. The duos each feature a different combination of performers: violin and piano, cello and piano, and violin and cello. All three performers maintain private or university teaching positions, placements in ensembles or orchestras and active performance agendas in the Tennessee-Ohio region of the US.

Now in his nineties, Herbert Blomstedt, former conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, is still a powerful interpreter of the symphonic repertoire. His program with the Wiener Philharmoniker is straightforward: it begins with Honegger’s brilliant Third Symphony and ends with Brahms’ Fourth. The eminent maestro, one of the orchestra’s favorites since his debut at the 2011 Salzburg Mozart Week, continues to enchant audiences with his enormous presence, verve and artistic drive. “A stirring, long-lasting listening experience. At the end, standing ovations and boundless cheers.” (br-klassik.de) / “Fortunately, they still exist, the magical moments when time stands still, when music reaches and touches people.” (Die Presse)