wimpel69
01-16-2017, 01:23 PM
Several (or all?) of these 4 Marco Polo albums with music by Arthur Honegger have been shared on this board
before, but here they are all together. These are my own rips. Front covers & booklets are included.
Please request the FLAC links in this thread, PM's will be ignored. Please do not share any further.
Arthur Honegger, one of the greatest twentieth century composers, made an unrivalled contribution to film music
during the course of some thirty years, from his scores for Abel Gance’s silent epics La Roue in 1922 and Napol�on in 1926
to his last works of this kind in 1951 – a total of some forty film scores. This recording brings together four scores from the 1930s,
beginning with Honegger’s own suite from the music he wrote for Marcel Pagnol’s 1937 film, Regain, a homage to Provence
and its country people. This is followed by a suite drawn from the music for Pierre Ch�nal’s 1934 screen dramatisation of Dostoyevsky’s
great novel, Crime et Ch�timent, and two symphonic movements assembled from the score for Le D�mon d'Himalya of
1935. The recording concludes with the complete score provided by Honegger for Bertold Bartosch’s 1934 animated picture, L'Id�e.
Les Mis�rables is one of the greatest of early sound film musical scores. Either as a five-movement suite extracted by the
composer or in a complete edition, the music is impressive and moving, though the latter requires sensitive interpretation to overcome
a tendency to remain in the same bleak mood throughout. Honegger was a Swiss who made most of his career in Paris and had one
of the most distinguished careers of modern classical composers. His contribution to film music, including at least 40 scores, was
largely overlooked for a time. It includes the silent films La Roue (1922) and Napol�on (1926), both directed by
Abel Gance -- the latter one of the classics of silent cinema. Les Mis�rables, Victor Hugo's classic novel of relentless pursuit
which takes its antagonists through various layers of French society, including the most disadvantaged, has been the subject of
numerous musical, stage, and cinematic adaptations. The 1934 film, directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Harry Bauer as
Jean Valjean, generally receives plaudits as one of the best. It is in the form of three 90-minute segments.
Honegger composed about an hour of music for the film. His pupil Mikl�s R�zsa (who went on to become one of Hollywood's
most illustrious film composers), told Honegger that the Les Mis�rables music was "as good as anything he had written and
was worthy to stand on its own, and so much in his individual style that you would have known who the composer was even
without seeing his name in the titles." He urged Honegger to make a concert suite from the music, which the composer eventually
did, comprising five movements from the score. The actual film had 23 cues, but three of these were dance music by someone
else. For a "complete" recording made in 1989 the Swiss conductor Adriano assembled an edition dropping one "source" cue, a
very brief introduction, and a vocal movement, combining a few shorter cues into longer symphonic movements, rescuing one
cue for which the written music was missing (by transcribing it by ear from the soundtrack), and doing some reorchestration.
Honegger used three main themes symbolically: a descending treading theme that is related to convicts, a contrasting upward
moving theme representing Valjean's love and humanity which turns into a love theme, and a folk-like theme. There are other
themes, as well. Honegger did his own orchestration, which is unusual for omitting the orchestral double basses. A number
of movements in the score are for chamber groupings from the main orchestra, often providing pathetic or tender moments,
and there is a bitterly satirical movement, "La foire � Montfermeil," that uses accordion to produce an effect of tawdriness.
The music is primarily lyrical, with dramatic moments, and is quite dark in mood throughout. It is in a harmonic style similar
to the Hollywood sound in the 1930s, but the orchestration foregoes the sweeping, lush Romantic sound of American film music.
Music Composed by
Arthur Honegger
Played by the
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by
Adriano
"Born in France to Swiss parents, Arthur Honegger was a major twentieth century composer whose musical
style was more cosmopolitan than either French or Swiss. An almost exact contemporary of Prokofiev (1891-1953), he
rivaled Poulenc as the most successful member of Les Six and was without doubt among the greatest French composers
of his day. Stylistically, he was quite protean, eschewing the Impressionism of Debussy while absorbing certain features
of neo-Classicism and taking on a sometimes brash and usually rugged expressive manner, always within a tonal context.
Honegger became proficient on the violin as a child, but also developed an interest in composition early on. His first
work, an unorchestrated opera, Philippa, dates to 1903. He enrolled at the Zurich Conservatory while in his teens, where
he studied composition with Friedrich Hegar and violin with Willem de Boer. He left after two years for the more prestigious
Paris Conservatory in 1911, where he studied composition with Widor and G�dalge. Although he continued to take instruction
on the violin there, he was clearly more interested in a career as a composer. In 1913, his family relocated to Zurich, but
Honegger remained in Le Havre and commuted daily to Paris by train, perhaps one of the reasons he developed a fascination
with locomotives. His first works began gaining exposure by 1916 and four years later, he and his conservatory friends
Milhaud, Auric, and Tailleferre, along with Poulenc and Durey, found themselves aligned in the famous musical group
called Les Six, a name coined by critic Henri Collet. Les Six was formed in reaction to Impressionism and Wagnerian
ideas, but Honegger did not recognize any musical creed in his association with the group.
In 1923, Honegger composed one of his most famous works, Pacific 231 (Mouvement symphonique No. 1), a work whose
motoric qualities were inspired by the sounds and rhythms of a locomotive. The piece was a tremendous success and
spawned many imitations. In 1926, Honegger married a young, highly gifted French pianist Andr�e Vaurabourg. The two
rarely lived together during their marriage, owing to the composer's need for solitude in his creative activities. On concert
tours, however, they apparently shared quarters and throughout their marriage were otherwise a happy, loving couple.
The 1928 Rugby (Mouvement symphonique No. 2) was also a success for Honegger and is another example of the
composer being inspired by an extra-musical interest: he was a sports enthusiast, especially of rugby. Honegger made
many concert tours in the 1930s with his wife, who would perform his piano and chamber works or serve as accompanist
to his songs. His concert and compositional activity was curtailed for a year when he nursed his wife along to recovery
following a serious injury in a 1935 automobile accident. During the war years, Honegger taught at the �cole Normale
de Musique and made many trips to Zurich, where his Symphony No. 2 (1940-1941) was successfully premiered by
Paul Sacher and the Collegium Musicum on May 18, 1942. Honegger remained quite prolific during these dark years,
especially in the realm of film music. He wrote 11 film scores in the period of 1942-1943, though some were
collaborations with other composers, such as Jolivet. In 1947, on a concert tour in the United States, Honegger
suffered a heart attack and thereafter his health declined, severely limiting his musical activities, with his wife
tending to him in his final year."
Source: Marco Polo CDs (My rips!)
Format: FLAC(RAR), DDD Stereo (incl. covers & booklets)
File Sizes: 235 MB + 248 MB + 222 MB + 203 MB
As a bonus, you'll receive two further albums with orchestral works by Arthur Honegger
(incl. film music), which are not part of the Marco Polo series, also from my own rips
and including with cover & booklet:
Several (or all?) of these 4 Marco Polo albums with music by Arthur Honegger have been shared on this board
before, but here they are all together. These are my own rips. Front covers & booklets are included.
Please request the FLAC links in this thread, PM's will be ignored. Please do not share any further.
before, but here they are all together. These are my own rips. Front covers & booklets are included.
Please request the FLAC links in this thread, PM's will be ignored. Please do not share any further.
Arthur Honegger, one of the greatest twentieth century composers, made an unrivalled contribution to film music
during the course of some thirty years, from his scores for Abel Gance’s silent epics La Roue in 1922 and Napol�on in 1926
to his last works of this kind in 1951 – a total of some forty film scores. This recording brings together four scores from the 1930s,
beginning with Honegger’s own suite from the music he wrote for Marcel Pagnol’s 1937 film, Regain, a homage to Provence
and its country people. This is followed by a suite drawn from the music for Pierre Ch�nal’s 1934 screen dramatisation of Dostoyevsky’s
great novel, Crime et Ch�timent, and two symphonic movements assembled from the score for Le D�mon d'Himalya of
1935. The recording concludes with the complete score provided by Honegger for Bertold Bartosch’s 1934 animated picture, L'Id�e.
Les Mis�rables is one of the greatest of early sound film musical scores. Either as a five-movement suite extracted by the
composer or in a complete edition, the music is impressive and moving, though the latter requires sensitive interpretation to overcome
a tendency to remain in the same bleak mood throughout. Honegger was a Swiss who made most of his career in Paris and had one
of the most distinguished careers of modern classical composers. His contribution to film music, including at least 40 scores, was
largely overlooked for a time. It includes the silent films La Roue (1922) and Napol�on (1926), both directed by
Abel Gance -- the latter one of the classics of silent cinema. Les Mis�rables, Victor Hugo's classic novel of relentless pursuit
which takes its antagonists through various layers of French society, including the most disadvantaged, has been the subject of
numerous musical, stage, and cinematic adaptations. The 1934 film, directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Harry Bauer as
Jean Valjean, generally receives plaudits as one of the best. It is in the form of three 90-minute segments.
Honegger composed about an hour of music for the film. His pupil Mikl�s R�zsa (who went on to become one of Hollywood's
most illustrious film composers), told Honegger that the Les Mis�rables music was "as good as anything he had written and
was worthy to stand on its own, and so much in his individual style that you would have known who the composer was even
without seeing his name in the titles." He urged Honegger to make a concert suite from the music, which the composer eventually
did, comprising five movements from the score. The actual film had 23 cues, but three of these were dance music by someone
else. For a "complete" recording made in 1989 the Swiss conductor Adriano assembled an edition dropping one "source" cue, a
very brief introduction, and a vocal movement, combining a few shorter cues into longer symphonic movements, rescuing one
cue for which the written music was missing (by transcribing it by ear from the soundtrack), and doing some reorchestration.
Honegger used three main themes symbolically: a descending treading theme that is related to convicts, a contrasting upward
moving theme representing Valjean's love and humanity which turns into a love theme, and a folk-like theme. There are other
themes, as well. Honegger did his own orchestration, which is unusual for omitting the orchestral double basses. A number
of movements in the score are for chamber groupings from the main orchestra, often providing pathetic or tender moments,
and there is a bitterly satirical movement, "La foire � Montfermeil," that uses accordion to produce an effect of tawdriness.
The music is primarily lyrical, with dramatic moments, and is quite dark in mood throughout. It is in a harmonic style similar
to the Hollywood sound in the 1930s, but the orchestration foregoes the sweeping, lush Romantic sound of American film music.
Music Composed by
Arthur Honegger
Played by the
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by
Adriano
"Born in France to Swiss parents, Arthur Honegger was a major twentieth century composer whose musical
style was more cosmopolitan than either French or Swiss. An almost exact contemporary of Prokofiev (1891-1953), he
rivaled Poulenc as the most successful member of Les Six and was without doubt among the greatest French composers
of his day. Stylistically, he was quite protean, eschewing the Impressionism of Debussy while absorbing certain features
of neo-Classicism and taking on a sometimes brash and usually rugged expressive manner, always within a tonal context.
Honegger became proficient on the violin as a child, but also developed an interest in composition early on. His first
work, an unorchestrated opera, Philippa, dates to 1903. He enrolled at the Zurich Conservatory while in his teens, where
he studied composition with Friedrich Hegar and violin with Willem de Boer. He left after two years for the more prestigious
Paris Conservatory in 1911, where he studied composition with Widor and G�dalge. Although he continued to take instruction
on the violin there, he was clearly more interested in a career as a composer. In 1913, his family relocated to Zurich, but
Honegger remained in Le Havre and commuted daily to Paris by train, perhaps one of the reasons he developed a fascination
with locomotives. His first works began gaining exposure by 1916 and four years later, he and his conservatory friends
Milhaud, Auric, and Tailleferre, along with Poulenc and Durey, found themselves aligned in the famous musical group
called Les Six, a name coined by critic Henri Collet. Les Six was formed in reaction to Impressionism and Wagnerian
ideas, but Honegger did not recognize any musical creed in his association with the group.
In 1923, Honegger composed one of his most famous works, Pacific 231 (Mouvement symphonique No. 1), a work whose
motoric qualities were inspired by the sounds and rhythms of a locomotive. The piece was a tremendous success and
spawned many imitations. In 1926, Honegger married a young, highly gifted French pianist Andr�e Vaurabourg. The two
rarely lived together during their marriage, owing to the composer's need for solitude in his creative activities. On concert
tours, however, they apparently shared quarters and throughout their marriage were otherwise a happy, loving couple.
The 1928 Rugby (Mouvement symphonique No. 2) was also a success for Honegger and is another example of the
composer being inspired by an extra-musical interest: he was a sports enthusiast, especially of rugby. Honegger made
many concert tours in the 1930s with his wife, who would perform his piano and chamber works or serve as accompanist
to his songs. His concert and compositional activity was curtailed for a year when he nursed his wife along to recovery
following a serious injury in a 1935 automobile accident. During the war years, Honegger taught at the �cole Normale
de Musique and made many trips to Zurich, where his Symphony No. 2 (1940-1941) was successfully premiered by
Paul Sacher and the Collegium Musicum on May 18, 1942. Honegger remained quite prolific during these dark years,
especially in the realm of film music. He wrote 11 film scores in the period of 1942-1943, though some were
collaborations with other composers, such as Jolivet. In 1947, on a concert tour in the United States, Honegger
suffered a heart attack and thereafter his health declined, severely limiting his musical activities, with his wife
tending to him in his final year."
Source: Marco Polo CDs (My rips!)
Format: FLAC(RAR), DDD Stereo (incl. covers & booklets)
File Sizes: 235 MB + 248 MB + 222 MB + 203 MB
As a bonus, you'll receive two further albums with orchestral works by Arthur Honegger
(incl. film music), which are not part of the Marco Polo series, also from my own rips
and including with cover & booklet:
Several (or all?) of these 4 Marco Polo albums with music by Arthur Honegger have been shared on this board
before, but here they are all together. These are my own rips. Front covers & booklets are included.
Please request the FLAC links in this thread, PM's will be ignored. Please do not share any further.