Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) was of Swiss descent although he was born - and died - in France. He was a prolific composer across the genres and in his lifetime was probably best known for his film scores. The musical drama Le Roi David, completed in 1921, is an impressive work, originally theatrical in intention but transferred effectively to the concert hall as an oratorio. Both formats have been recorded over the years with a resultantly confusing discography. This 2017 recording by Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, for example, is not their first attempt as there was a previous one in 1992 helpfully reviewed elsewhere on this website by Dave Massey. Daniel Reuss's 2017 take includes the narration which is, of course, in French and, frankly, beyond my limited ability to comprehend. I know the story of King David well enough and Honegger's librettist, Rene Morax, takes much of his text from the Psalms, so once this non francophone listener found his bearings by having the CD booklet open and following the translation provided he was able to enjoy the story. And what a story it is! We follow the shepherd boy on his path to glory while the first king of Israel, Saul, descends into jealous madness and an early grave - from whence he is summoned by the Prophetess ("la Pythonisse" in French), excellently sung by soprano Lucie Chartin in a gloriously melodramatic scene worthy of Stravinsky. Indeed one of the joys of the work is Honegger's musical invention with him brilliantly recreating a distant Biblical past in a resolutely modern hybrid of Near Eastern-influenced music that would make a memorable film score. The use of brass for the martial scenes is exhilarating, several of the Psalms could stand alone as concert pieces, and the closing "Hallelujah!" from the Chorus of Angels at David's death is spine tingling (and apologies for the spoiler). In short, the amazing story of King David is given a suitably dramatic setting with some excellent singing of some very interesting music. In future I will be using the skip button on my CD player to miss the narration but the fact that I do not remember much of the French I learned in the last millennium should not be held against this well presented release.

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