Two new posts, one a transfer from Amazon, the other from notes I had taken back in 2013 but not published:
Arthur Honegger: Symphony No. 3 “Liturgique”, Chant de Joie, Horace Victorieux. Basler Sinfonie-Orchester, Paul Sacher. Pan Classics 510 053 (1992), Accord 203 022 (1995?)
and Paul Sacher conducts works personally commissioned: Bartók (Divertimento), Stravinsky (Concerto in D), Honegger (Symphony No. 2). Primož Novšak, solo violin (Bartók), Henri Adelbrecht, trumpet (Honegger), Collegium Musicum Zurich. Erato Japan ECD 75545 (1989)
As the commissioner and premiere performer of many of Honegger’s masterpieces (Symphonies 2 to 4, La Danse des Morts, the Christmas Cantata, Concerto da camera), Sacher has unique legitimacy in this repertoire, and any document of him conducting these works is of paramount interest (he also recorded the Christmas Cantata in 1954 and the Concerto da camera on a small Swiss label at the end of the LP era, but no recording of him in the 4th Sympony and Danse des morts has surfaced commercially). That said, the great admiration bestowed upon him for his role as a patron did not always extend to his skills as a conductor, and it is illustrated here: his Second Symphony is one of the most tensionless I’ve heard, and his Liturgique is nothing special.
I’m reminded that I also have a few rare LPs of Honegger, recordings that were never reissued to CD, or only from unofficial labels and as transfers directly from the LPs, and that I wrote reviews of those too (or took detailed notes for reviews) that I never published on Amazon. In fact, for one of them, Symphonie liturgique by Robert Denzler on Decca in 1955 (and a great performance too), I DID publish the review under the entry for the LP… and the entry was suppressed shortly after… (the recording was reissued by Decca in 2015, on their mammoth set “The Decca Sound: The Mono Years 1944-1956”, which I bought almost only for that recording). So I need to post all those too on Discophage.com