Honegger Jean d'arc au bucher
Foiled by Nice Cathedral's acoustics, Cochereau and his forces fail to bring out the dramatic impact of this oratorio
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Arthur Honegger
Label: Solstice
Magazine Review Date: 3/2000
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 78
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: FYCD941
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher |
Arthur Honegger, Composer
Alain Cuny, Speaker Arthur Honegger, Composer Chorale du Lycée Musical de Nice Cornélia Jégoudez, Mezzo soprano Daniel Routtier, Baritone Jean-Marc Cochereau, Conductor Michel Carey, Baritone Michèle Battaïni, Contralto (Female alto) Muriel Chaney, Speaker Nice Philharmonic Orchestra Otto Linsi, Bass Suzanna Rosander, Soprano |
Author: Lionel Salter
Apart from its multi-plicity of styles, which embrace polyphony, Gregorian chant, baroque dance and folk-song, Jeanne d'Arc is a curious dramatic oratorio, part symbolic, part realistic, told in flashback episodes, its two main characters - Joan and Brother Dominic - speaking, not singing, which is confined to relatively small roles; the main weight of the work rests on the orchestra (unusually constituted) and various choral forces, including a children's choir. But it is essentially a dramatic work, and it has to be said that the present recording fails badly in this respect, largely because the technical team seems to have been unable to cope with the acoustic of the cathedral in Nice. The outcome is that the bulk of the work emerges as a dynamically undifferentiated noisy confusion, the orchestra far too obstreperous and scarcely a word of the chorus being intelligible; even some of the soloists' lines are submerged.
Ozawa's recording was similarly made in a cathedral (the Basilique Saint-Denis), but with totally different results - it headed my 1991 Critic's Choice recommendations: and Baudo's excellent performance (dating from 1978) was given in a spacious studio, permitting still greater nuances of perspective and balance - but available only in a two-disc issue coupled with a poorly sung Cantate de Noel.
In this new issue Alain Cuny is an admirable Brother Dominic and Daniel Routtier an effective Porcus (who appoints himself president of Joan's tribunal), but Muriel Chaney, unlike her counterparts in the earlier versions, does little to convey the bewilderment and fervour of the simple country girl, and for much of her part appears to be reading it - and at dictation speed. Michele Battaini as the Virgin (who has the work's ineffably lovely final envoi) is half-drowned by the orchestra and isn't a patch on the radiant Francois Pollet in Ozawa's recording. Altogether a big disappointment.'
Ozawa's recording was similarly made in a cathedral (the Basilique Saint-Denis), but with totally different results - it headed my 1991 Critic's Choice recommendations: and Baudo's excellent performance (dating from 1978) was given in a spacious studio, permitting still greater nuances of perspective and balance - but available only in a two-disc issue coupled with a poorly sung Cantate de Noel.
In this new issue Alain Cuny is an admirable Brother Dominic and Daniel Routtier an effective Porcus (who appoints himself president of Joan's tribunal), but Muriel Chaney, unlike her counterparts in the earlier versions, does little to convey the bewilderment and fervour of the simple country girl, and for much of her part appears to be reading it - and at dictation speed. Michele Battaini as the Virgin (who has the work's ineffably lovely final envoi) is half-drowned by the orchestra and isn't a patch on the radiant Francois Pollet in Ozawa's recording. Altogether a big disappointment.'
Honegger Jean d'arc au bucher
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