Of Swiss parentage, Arthur Honegger was generally regarded as a French composer and became linked with the group of revolutionary young musicians known as Les Six. It was a link he did not welcome and came as a result of two avant-garde works from his early years, Pacific 231 and Rugby. He was in later life to become a ‘traditional’ symphonic composer. Le Roi David was composed in 1921 and was his first major success. Originally intended as a work for the stage, he later described it as a symphonic oratorio, a narrator linking the arias and choruses. The colourful score relates the biblical story of the triumph of David over Goliath and Saul. The original version heard here is scored for a small ensemble of six woodwind, four brass, a harmonium, a piano, two timpani, a double bass, a gong and a tam-tam.