Lukáš Vasilek directs the Czech Philharmonic in a dramatically nuanced and scrupulously engineered recording of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher, a neglected masterpiece composed in 1935 to a text by Paul Claudel.
A multifaceted score
The work reviews the French saint’s life in flashback as she awaits execution. Eleven episodes explore her physical and mental trials, with actors playing Jeanne and her confidant Frère Dominique alongside a cast of solo singers and full chorus.
Honegger’s score blends medieval modes and folk melody with Stravinskian neoclassicism and jazz, while his eclectic orchestration includes three saxophones, pianos and the eerie wail of the ondes Martenot.
Set pieces land body blows
Jeanne’s examination before a tribunal of anthropomorphic animals sizzles with faux-Hollywood fanfares and a scabrous comedic energy. Kyle van Schoonhoven has fun as Porcus, the pig elected to preside over her trial. The game of cards, where blasé English and French nobility use her as a bargaining chip, is razor-sharp.
The Prague Philharmonic Choir and Children’s Choir are splendidly muscular. Hovering over it all are Jeanne’s otherworldly voices – the Virgin, Sainte Catherine and Sainte Marguerite – captured here in spine-tingling detail.
Quietly devastating finale
In the title role, French actor Audrey Bonnet embodies both wide-eyed teenager and religious fanatic. Guided by Sébastien Dutrieux’s compassionate Frère Dominique, her final realisation that martyrdom is not a defeat but a supreme act of love is quietly devastating.
