OK, so Honegger isn’t exactly a bag of laughs to begin with, but he’s also not as dreary as Denève and his Stuttgart forces make him sound here. Part of the problem stems from the engineering–surprising coming from the normally excellent German radio team. The sonics lack openness on top, and a grey pall hangs over the proceedings. Resonant bass frequencies, normally welcome, only increase the feeling of heaviness.
It goes without saying that Denève knows the music well, and his tempos are theoretically lively, but Roger Norrington wrecked this orchestra in a perverse attempt to create a proprietary “sound,” and Denève, talented though he is, was not the man to repair the damage. It’s not that Honegger requires especially voluptuous timbres, but the wiry thinness of the strings lacks the necessary punch in the Second Symphony, while the brass and woodwind in the Third Symphony make noise, but little else.
Virgil Thomson often wrote about the challenge of playing loud–of creating a sound that’s full and powerful without crudeness. Stuttgart, if it ever had the ability, doesn’t show it here. In the first movement of the “Liturgique” for example the textures are clear, but the tension still sags badly as the music proceeds. This isn’t a function of tempo, but of articulation and weight of sonority. The same problem afflicts Rugby and, particularly, Pacific 231, which should power along like a juggernaut. Again, some of the problem stems from the less than impactful engineering, but the rest of the blame falls squarely on the orchestra and conductor.
Denève’s tenure in Stuttgart was not, rumor has it, a happy one, and he’s already moved on to what we hope will be greener pastures in Belgium. The orchestra too will soon be merged with the SWR orchestra to form one giant mega-ensamble, probably with an especially resonant name such as the SWR Stuttgart Radio Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg. God only knows what the ultimate result will be. On evidence here, they have some serious rebuilding to do, and until that happens no one will miss them.
