The Symphony No. 4 by Swiss composer

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

is a work for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, written in 1946 on a commission from Paul Sacher. Subtitled ''Deliciæ Basilienses'', it was first performed on 21 January 1947, by the chamber orchestra ''Basler Kammerorchester'' under Sacher. On the same program were the premieres of two other works commissioned by Sacher:

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

's Concerto in D and

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

's ''Toccata e due Canzoni''. Honegger's symphony, which contains musical quotations from two

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s, expresses the composer's happiness during a pleasant stay in the Swiss countryside after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Despite the pastoral and often joyous mood throughout much of the symphony, the closing minutes include some tragic or more serious elements. Honegger's Fourth Symphony is a three-movement work with a total running time of about 27 minutes. The movements are titled: # Lento e misterioso - Allegro (approx. 11'45") # Larghetto (approx. 6'15") # Allegro (approx. 8'30") This symphony is published by Éditions Salabert.

Recordings

Recordings of this symphony include full sets of Honegger's symphonies performed by: * the

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra The Czech Philharmonic () is a symphony orchestra based in Prague. Its principal performing venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall. History The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title of the orche ...

under Sergei Baudo (Supraphon, 1994) * the Suisse Romande Orchestra under Fabio Luisi (Cascavelle, 2001) * the Toulouse Capitole Orchestra under Michel Plasson (EMI Classics, 2004) * the

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...

under

Charles Dutoit Charles Édouard Dutoit is a Swiss conductor. He is the principal guest conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal Award. Dutoit held previous positions ...

(Apex, 2006) Additional recordings of this symphony include: * the Suisse Romande Orchestra under Ernest Ansermet (London/Decca Enterprise, 1991) * the Bournemouth Sinfonietta under

Tamás Vásáry Tamás Vásáry (; born 11 August 1933) is a Hungarian concert pianist and conductor. Biography and career Vásáry was born in Debrecen, Hungary, and made his stage debut at the age of 8, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D major, K.107 i ...

(Chandos, 1992) * the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra under Jesús López-Cobos (Virgin Classics, 1992 and 2001) * the French National Radio Orchestra under Charles Munch (Apex, 2002) * the Basel Chamber Orchestra under

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...

(Arte Nova, 2005) * the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

under Vladimir Jurowski (live recording LPO, 2011)

References

{{authority control Symphony 4 1946 compositions Music commissioned by Paul Sacher