# SS 23.08.14 - Honegger #3 "Liturgique"



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Arthur Honegger (1892 - 1955)*

Symphony No. 3, H 186 "Symphonie Liturgique"

1. Dies Irae - Allegro marcato
2. De Profundis Clamavi - Adagio
3. Dona Nobis Pacem - Andante

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I've never heard this work before so this will be a new one for me. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

I only have one recording of it as well so I will go with:

View attachment 49380


Herbert Von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

I've never heard this one before either and, alas, I do not yet have a recording of this one. I'll seek out a performance on Youtube. Most probably this one:






Yevgeny Mravinsky leading the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra from 1964.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Honegger is always a welcome on my listening menu!

I'll dig out the classic Serge Baudo Supraphon disc where he conduct the Czech Philharmonic!







/








/ptr


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

today you hit a good target

power, serenity, tension, suffering, excitement, everything can be felt here

great music

of course for me karajan leads the line with Berlin Phil. because he had really a special approach to Honegger Symphonies

also great are Yevgeny Mravinsky with Len. Phil. O.

N. Jarvi with Danish RSO

and Ernest Ansernet. He has done with more than one orchestras, but I have heard the Bavarian RSO.

I want to hear D R Davies with Basel SO, which i have not heard, maybe this weekend

good choice


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I'll listen to two recs, and I'll see/hear if I can prefer one over the other. I obtained Jarvi's primarily for #5.:tiphat:

*Honegger*: Symphony 3, w. BPO/HvK (rec.1969), w. Danish RSO/Jarvi (1992).


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Bavarian Radio Symphony/Dutoit









I've heard many fans of the work have problems with these readings, though...


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> Bavarian Radio Symphony/Dutoit
> I've heard many fans of the work have problems with these readings, though...


This was my first contact with Honegger in the 80's in its original Erato release, I quite liked what I heard then and it made me investigate Honegger further, discovering what other like Serge Baudo coaxed out of AH's music made me turn to them more often.. 
My Dutoit / Honegger records have mostly been collecting dust since... :tiphat: ... I don't know if its only me, but it often seems like Dutoit has been, if not a failure, less successful when working with orchestras outside the Francophile rôme (fx. I was told by a senior of the Gothenburg Symphony of whom Dutoit was in charge in the late 1970's, that Dutoit was "incapable of communicating with the orchestra in any civilized language what so ever (his exaggeration), myself, I treasure many of the recordings Decca did with him in Montreal and many with the Orchestre National de France on Erato & Decca

/ptr

/ptr


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Mario Klemens & Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

realdealblues said:


> I've never heard this work before so this will be a new one for me. I'm looking forward to checking it out.
> 
> I only have one recording of it as well so I will go with:
> 
> ...


Likewise, this is new to me and have chosen this version with Spotify


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ptr said:


> This was my first contact with Honegger in the 80's in its original Erato release, I quite liked what I heard then and it made me investigate Honegger further, discovering what other like Serge Baudo coaxed out of AH's music made me turn to them more often..
> My Dutoit / Honegger records have mostly been collecting dust since... :tiphat: ... I don't know if its only me, but it often seems like Dutoit has been, if not a failure, less successful when working with orchestras outside the Francophile rôme (fx. I was told by a senior of the Gothenburg Symphony of whom Dutoit was in charge in the late 1970's, that Dutoit was "incapable of communicating with the orchestra in any civilized language what so ever (his exaggeration), myself, I treasure many of the recordings Decca did with him in Montreal and many with the Orchestre National de France on Erato & Decca
> 
> /ptr
> ...


Baudo, I think, was just _that much better than_ many another -- perhaps similar to a Ferenc Fricsay. Baudo's Honegger recordings are a perfection of tempi, balancing all the interior voicings or actual counterpoint, i.e. 'all proportions _juste,_ all without the music either bogging down or sounding at all academic.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I have never heard this, either. I will need to refer to an offsite source, performed by the Orchestre National de l'ORTF under the direction of Louis de Froment.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Honegger Symphony No. 3 as transcribed for two pianos by Dmitri Shostakovich (!)


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

^ Wow! Sounds sensational. I will try that one, too!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Honegger Symphony No. 3 as transcribed for two pianos by Dmitri Shostakovich (!)


Very impressive!


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## Rhythm (Nov 2, 2013)

This evening, I heard *Orchestra Filarmonica di Leningrado* conducted in 1965 by Yevgeni Mravinsky. Were there sounds of trains and train whistles?


> *Wiki* Honegger was widely known as a train enthusiast, and once notably said: "I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses."


^ That was the surprise of the day ​
A very enjoyable listen! Thanks, RDBlues.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Rhythm said:


> This evening, I heard *Orchestra Filarmonica di Leningrado* conducted in 1965 by Yevgeni Mravinsky. Were there sounds of trains and train whistles?


I heard that one, too, and I also thought of the trains, so it must be. Honegger was a locomotive enthusiast.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Jeff W said:


> I've never heard this one before either and, alas, I do not yet have a recording of this one. I'll seek out a performance on Youtube. Most probably this one:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm in the same boat, so I will join you and listen to this recording on YouTube.

Thank you for sharing the link Jeff W.


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## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

Jeff W said:


> I've never heard this one before either and, alas, I do not yet have a recording of this one. I'll seek out a performance on Youtube. Most probably this one:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the link Jeff W

First time listening, so far so good. Music touched by circumstances so heavily.

PS: I have just finished it. So dark by moments. It is a surprise to realize that even the swiss have a heart too .


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I'll be spinning this CD, my only recording of the "Liturgique":










Mariss Jansons / Oslo PO


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Wow - what a wonderful conclusion to the symphony; after all that relentless stomping and noise, the whole lot collapses and a lovely gentle sequence of chords ends the work. I like it 
By the way, mine's the Dutoit recording, so I'd be interested to hear the piece played by someone else just to compare.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I'm also not familiar with this symphony. I found one of the movements excerpted on this album, so I assume H. wrote it as Halloween music. 









But I settled on *Jansons and the Concertgebouw *(courtesy of Spotify).


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

*Arthur Honegger

Symphony no 3 "Liturgique". H 186 (1946) *
Takuo Yuasa, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra [Naxos, 2004]

I have known Honegger's string quartets and 'Pacific 231' for a long time so yes I knew about his trainspotting activities 
I found this version to be very enjoyable (on Spotify), but I don't have anything to compare it with, not having heard the third symphony before.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> Bavarian Radio Symphony/Dutoit
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I found this recording of Symphony No. 3 on YouTube and I enjoyed the performance, enough to purchase it.

Aside from this SS, Dutoit's Symphonies 4 and 5 were on YouTube which resulted in an easy purchase.

I'll be listening to No.3 much more now I can listen through my Hi-Fi as opposed to computer speakers.

I just can't believe I had not heard of Honegger until this thread was started & I followed Jeff W's link.

These Saturday Symphonies threads are truly invaluable.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I ended up listening to my Karajan recording twice over the weekend. It's an interesting Symphony and I enjoyed it, but I think it will take a few more listens to really sink in. Probably just the way I heard it, but to me, it kind of starts out somewhere in land of Debussy and ends somewhere in the realms of Brahms. Kind of neat anyway.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Great to see the Honegger picked and getting such positive feedback. He's one of my favourite conposers of the 30s and 40s, writing, like Barber, Hindemith and late Roussel, wonderful symphonies in a time when the last ones by Mahler and Sibelius had, apparently, closed the book on that form. The Honegger 3 is great, though I like his 2nd even more, especially the finale.


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