Steve Schwartz writes of the 4th Symphony:
>The composer intended it as light and genial, a kind of "Pastorale"
>symphony, but despite its obvious craft, it's the least successful in
>delivering that kind of emotional payload. There's lots to admire about
>it, particularly the chamber-like scoring. However, a dark undercurrent
>is never far away and also never truly integrated into the work. For that
>reason, I consider it the weakest of the symphonies. I miss the strong
>forward impulse of the other symphonies. It wanders and natters far more
>than the composer can get away with.
Steve revises this, towards the end of his excellent article, to "hardest
to penetrate"; and that's a fair summary of what, for me, is Honegger's
subtlest, warmest and most satisfying symphony. It stands in relation to
the magnificent 3rd very much as Sibelius's 6th does to his 5th, elusive
by conventional standards, but with as great an inner strength as its
predecessor.
I'd take particular issue with Steve's description of "wandering and
nattering". Rather, I'd say that of all 5 symphonies this is the tightest
integrated, the one in which the themes have the most truly symphonic cast
- by which I mean that they are protean, open to development to a degree
that the tunes of the 3rd are not. There is less filling-in here than in
some of his other works, notably the 2nd, where Honegger heads for the
peaks with a single-mindedness that precludes much interest in the climb
itself.
True, though the 4th may contain his best music, it isn't the place to
start with Honegger - the Karajan coupling of 2 and 3 is surely that,
though I agree with Steve that "Jeanne d'Arc au Bucher" shares their
inspiring qualities. But anyone who responds to Sibelius 6th, Bruckner's
4th or Nielsen's 3rd is going to find plenty to love about Honegger's
"Deliciae Basilienses".
If you can find it, the one-off Chandos recording with the Bournemouth
Sinfonietta conducted by Tamas Vasary is a delightful version in clear
modern sound - very necessary for this piece. It's coupled with the
Piano Concertino, "Pastorale d'ete" - and the engaging "Prelude, Arioso
et Fughette sur le nom de Bach", the intensely serious Arioso of which
has a main theme with an unlucky resemblance to 'My Funny Valentine'.
Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!" The Spanish Music Site
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