Jean-Francois Antonioli - Arthur Honegger - L'Oeuvre pour piano (2008)

Compared with his symphonies, tone poems, and oratorios, Arthur Honegger's piano music is all but unknown, a condition that is understandable. A violinist himself, Honegger wrote few pieces for the piano, the majority of which are relatively early works and thus not representative of mature "modernist with an attitude" style. But there are still many gems in his keyboard catalog -- the brilliantly virtuosic Toccata et Variations, the wryly neo-classical Prélude, Arioso et Fughette, and the ironically sentimental Souvenir de Chopin, among others -- and it is good to hear them so well presented on this 2008 Timpani disc. Performed with élan, virtuosity, and whole-hearted sympathy by pianist Jean-François Antonioli joined by Ju-Ying Song in the one piece for two pianos, Honegger's piano music comes alive here. With keen sensitivity, Antonioli brings out the wit in the Scenic Railway, the tenderness in the Berceuse, the poetry in the Sept Pièces bréves, and the no-holds-barred sensuality in the Deux Esquisses. Captured in clear but evocative digital sound, Antonioli's Honegger recital may not be for everyone, but those listeners interested in twentieth century French piano music will likely have to hear it.