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5.0 out of 5 stars
A 20th Century Classic, both music and performance!, Jun 8 2002
It's never really been out of fashion amongst some to denigrate von Karajan for being smooth and suave when he should be rough and ready, etc. etc. In any event, when he was personally sold on a piece, and championed it in the concert hall, there were few rivals. The Honegger 3rd (and 2nd, really) was one such piece. And yes, Karajan's magician's way of getting the Berlin Philharmonic into, and becoming, the piece is certainly in evidence here. Other reviewers have given the nuts and bolts rundown of the
workings of the Honegger symphonies, so I won't add more there. Suffice it to say that this is integral mid-20th century symphonic writing; if you've explored and liked Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Bartok, etc., then you're ready for the Honegger 2nd and 3rd (I'd go for them all, now that Dutoit's cycle with the Bavarian Radio is in a budget 2-fer set). Like Benjamin Britten, Honegger knew how to be abrasive in a "telling" way, with just enough tonality to hang your hat on. And speaking of Britten, another of von Karajan's few but significant renditions of mid-20th century musical benchmarks, his Philharmonia Orchestra reading of the Britten "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge", is still available as an EMI import in their "Karajan Edition." It's mono, yes, but GOD what mono! And, it's quite possibly the best 10 minutes of string writing you'll ever hear. In sum, what of Karajan? Did he have a way of making everything sound as if it were experienced from the back seat of Mercedes limo? Not really. On occasion, yes, the BPO's "seamless" phrasing was not what the score called for. But, in Richard Strauss? Mahler? Bruckner? Honegger? Britten or Roussel (ok, I'm throwing in some Philharmonia material here)? Sibelius? I think you'd definitely want to hear his thoughts. Karajan, Bernstein, Boulez, Tennstedt ....all were--and in Boulez' case, is--capable of self-parody. But, there's always a conviction present in the interpretation of the score. It's here in the BPO's justly famous recording of the Honegger 2nd and 3rd.
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