The legendary conductor Ernest Ansermet (1883-1969), collaborating with his hand-picked Orchestre de la Suisse Romande which he founded in 1918, performs two major works by Arthur Honegger (1892-1955). Honegger insisted that his works, to be effective, must appeal to his audience: "My efforts have always been directed toward the ideal of writing music that is understandable by the great mass of listeners but sufficiently free of banality to interest music lovers." Ansermet, much noted for the accuracy and sympathy that he brought to modern scores, especially those with a Continental sensibility, achieves both luminosity and intelligence in these two colorful but affectively disparate scores.

The so-called "Liturgique" Symphony No. 3 (1946) reflects the composer's commitment to the Catholic revisionist movement, conceived in three movements related to the Requiem Mass. The opening, dark-hued Dies Irae storms forth, aggressive, in low strings, brass, snare drum, piano, and triangle, declamatory, militant. The tonguing for the brass parts alone requires no mean virtuosity. The texture absorbs the piano's percussiveness in the course of a seamless but tormented sensibility. De profundis clamavi ad te strikes a reverential tone, a strong melody whose nobility and ardent processional feels indebted to Faure. The middle section becomes more anguished, more imploring in layered textures. Calm and qualified resignation return, especially in the flute and string parts, though the uneasy fervor remains. Another crisis mounts, but the forces of reconciliation prevail. Dona nobis pacem begins with irony in the bassoon and tympani, the brass intoning a wry march. Virtuosic figures and slides in the woodwinds contribute to the somewhat jazzy, whirling effects. A poignant lyricism invests this music despite the periods of agitation and menace that may be shuddering memories of WW II. The final pages release us from militant, bellicose feelings and move to a serene plane of existence, a kind of idyll for solo violin, flute, and harp.

In striking contrast to the Liturgical Symphony, the Fourth Symphony (1946) is serene; its subtitle "Deliciae Basiliensis" means "The Delights of Basle," and it was written after the composer had spent a carefree holiday in Switzerland. There is a chamber music sound quality about this work. The opening Lento e misterioso invokes Nature's peace and consolation. The Allegro remains essentially bucolic but animated, exploiting in boulevardier, serenade fashion the bright joys of the woodwinds, silky strings, horns, battery, piano, and triangle. The atmosphere of the latter pages is suffused with French song. The brief Larghetto begins ponderously in the strings, a march joined by selected woodwinds and horns, then a second melody in the strings counters the lugubrious cadence of the march. The flute and clarinet offer an interlude, but more plaintive figures follow that soon blend in a mixture of pleasure and pain in bird calls, Honegger's version of a Bruckner procession. The last movements subdivides into five major sections, opening with an extension of the Larghetto's march, but soon adding a trumpet and playful winds and strings. At times, the music quite frolics, carefree and coloristic, even mystical. The entire symphony has been a showpiece for the L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande principals, metrically and texturally appealing and intricate, often referring to German procedures that the other members of Les Six eschewed.

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