Le Roi David: Enregistrement de la semaine

[Guest]

HONEGGER: Le Roi David
Christophe Balissat (le recitant), Athena Poullos (la pythonisse), Lucie Chartin (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Walker (tenor), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, Daniel Reuss (conductor)

I am really enjoying this! Exquisite singing and diction from Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, and Thomas Walker's French is very fine as well.

[Bryn]

HONEGGER: Le Roi David
Christophe Balissat (le recitant), Athena Poullos (la pythonisse), Lucie Chartin (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Walker (tenor), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, Daniel Reuss (conductor)

I am really enjoying this! Exquisite singing and diction from Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, and Thomas Walker's French is very fine as well.

I will have to listen later, but for me it will have to be pretty damned good to replace my affections for the Baudo recording (that on Accord which used the original score, not the later Supraphon which used the full orchestra revision).

[Bryn]

Having now listened to Part 3, I will stick with the 1962 Baudo which I first had as a Concert Hall double album.

[Pulcinella]

This is a piece I struggle to get on with, partly perhaps because of my aversion to pieces with a narrator, but I do have two recordings.
The Vanguard Classics one (Utah/Abravanel)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honegger-Roi-David-Arthur/dp/B0000254K3/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1491052004&sr=1-4&keywords=Honegger+abravanel

claims to be definitive, and it has Madeleine Milhaud as the witch of Endor, but it is of the full orchestral version.
The Erato one (Dutoit)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honegger-David-etc-Orchestral-Music/dp/B000026AFZ/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1491052573&sr=1-5&keywords=Honegger+dutoit

is the reduced (original) instrumentation.
Do you know either version, Bryn, and if so, do you have any comments with respect to your preferred Baudo version?

[Bryn]

This is a piece I struggle to get on with, partly perhaps because of my aversion to pieces with a narrator, but I do have two recordings.
The Vanguard Classics one (Utah/Abravanel)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honegger-Roi-David-Arthur/dp/B0000254K3/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1491052004&sr=1-4&keywords=Honegger+abravanel

claims to be definitive, and it has Madeleine Milhaud as the witch of Endor, but it is of the full orchestral version.
The Erato one (Dutoit)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honegger-David-etc-Orchestral-Music/dp/B000026AFZ/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1491052573&sr=1-5&keywords=Honegger+dutoit

is the reduced (original) instrumentation.
Do you know either version, Bryn, and if so, do you have any comments with respect to your preferred Baudo version?

I do have both those recordings but have not listened to them for some time. As I recall, the Abravanel gave a good impression of the full orchestra version (I basically got it for the inclusion of Madeleine Milhaud). The Dutoit I remember as being a bit too refined for my taste. That 1962 Baudo has a real raw French quality to the brass, for instance. There again, that Baudo was my introduction to the work, and that may colour my preference for it.

[Pulcinella]

I do have both those recordings but have not listened to them for some time. As I recall, the Abravanel gave a good impression of the full orchestra version (I basically got it for the inclusion of Madeleine Milhaud). The Dutoit I remember as being a bit too refined for my taste. That 1962 Baudo has a real raw French quality to the brass, for instance. There again, that Baudo was my introduction to the work, and that may colour my preference for it.

Thanks for your comments, Bryn.