Arthur Honegger - Christian Poltéra plays Arthur Honegger

Information

Composer: Arthur Honegger

• Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, H. 72
• Sonata for Cello and Piano, H. 32
• Sonatina for Cello and Piano, H. 42
• Sonatina for Violin and Cello, H. 80

Christian Poltéra, cello

Malmö Symphony Orchestra

Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen, conductor

Kathryn Stott, piano

Christian Tetzlaff, violin

Date: 2007

Label: BIS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

If you want a superb collection of Honegger’s music for cello, both chamber and orchestral, then this CD is just the ticket. I am completely mystified at the fact that the Cello Concerto isn’t better known. It has wonderful, jazzy tunes (it sounds a lot like Gershwin in places), plenty of fireworks for the soloist, and it packs a huge amount of contrast into its quarter-hour of playing time. Perhaps a few moments are too acerbic to make it a pops concert favorite, but it’s not far from it, and Christian Poltéra turns in just the kind of snappy, youthful performance that evokes the roaring ’20s and the Paris of Les Six–even if Honegger’s basic seriousness keeps popping through now and again. Tempos here are brisk, and some listeners might prefer Rostropovich’s marginally more relaxed reading of the music’s easygoing, lyrical passages; but by any standard this is a sensational performance.

The three chamber works, all composed between 1920 and 1932, are also very rewarding, and like the concerto none of them lasts longer than about 15 minutes. In the Cello Sonata and the brief, spiky Sonatina, Kathryn Stott accompanies with her usual expertise. She and Poltéra collaborate atmospherically in the chromatically slithery opening movement of the sonata, which reveals Honegger’s ability to be dissonant, lyrical, and interesting all at the same time. This is even truer of the Sonatina for Violin and Cello, actually a substantial work in which Christian Tetzlaff hooks up with Poltéra to turn in some of the most perfectly tuned octaves you’ll ever hear on disc. Honegger’s mature personality surfaces most graphically in this piece, with its various march and chorale textures quite similar to those, say, in the First Symphony. Excellent sonics, as usual from BIS, make owning this disc a terrific way to plug what is probably a serious repertoire gap in your collection.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur Honegger (10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les Six, but his style is weightier and more solemn than that of his colleagues. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which was inspired by the sound of a steam locomotive. The principal elements of Honegger's style are: Bachian counterpoint, driving rhythms, melodic amplitude, highly coloristic harmonies, an impressionistic use of orchestral sonorities, and a concern for formal architecture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Honegger

***

Christian Poltéra (born 1977 in Zurich, Switzerland) is a Swiss cellist. He studied cello with Nancy Chumachenko, Boris Pergamenschikow and Heinrich Schiff. During his student years Poltéra was already drawing notice as a soloist, and by the turn of the new century he was regarded among the most talented young Swiss cellists. He regularly appears as soloist with leading orchestras and has collaborated in chamber music with artists such as Mitsuko Uchida and Gidon Kremer. Poltéra has recorded for various labels, including BIS, Chandos, DG, and Naxos. Poltéra plays a 1675 Antonio Casini cello.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/christian-polt-eacute-ra-mn0001691728/biography

http://www.christianpoltera.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!