Classical

Charles Koechlin - Le Livre de la Jungle [The Jungle Book] (2006)

2018-04-24T15:15:00Z

Charles Koechlin - Le Livre de la Jungle [The Jungle Book] (2006)


1. La Loi de la Jungle (1939)
2. Les Bandar-Log (1939)

Trois Poèmes (1899-1904)
3. La berceuse phoque
4. La chanson de la nuit dans la jungle
5. Le chant de Kala-Nag 

6. La méditation de Purun-Bhagat (1900-36)
7. La course de printemps (1923)

Marie-Nicole Lemieux - mezzo-soprano
Nikolai Schukoff - tenor
Denis Sedov - bass
Orchestre National de France
Chœur de Radio France
Fabien Gabel - conductor

Lundi 27 novembre 2006 à 20h concert enregistré le 17 novembre 2006
Salle Olivier Messiaen, Maison de Radio France à Paris.

Charles Kœchlin a laissé plusieurs pièces d’après le Livre de la jungle de Rudyard Kipling, composant à différentes périodes de sa vie, chants et poèmes symphoniques illustrant certains passages du texte. Au fur et à mesure, le compositeur édifie un ensemble disparate qui ne respecte pas la narration de Kipling : l’ordre de composition donne les Trois poèmes, op. 18 : (Berceuse phoque, Chanson de la nuit dans la jungle, Chant de Kala), La Course du Printemps, op. 95, La méditation de Purun Bhagat, op. 95, La Loi de la jungle, op. 175 enfin, la page la plus célèbre : Les Bandar-log, op. 175.

Au total, le cycle composé, forme une fresque évocatrice d’une heure et vingt minutes, créée à Bruxelles en 1946, puis à Paris, en 1948. Voyageur imaginaire, d’une invention évocatrice puissante, Koechlin transporte la matière de l’orchestre, aidée des voix, dans les confins exotiques, déployant une sensibilité active dans l’expression des climats et des sensations de la Nature.

Mystère et brumes sur les forêts profondes, souvenirs étincelants entre maints phénomènes harmoniques, la musique se substitue à la narration de Kipling sans cependant épuiser ni affadir le propos littéraire d’origine.

L’évocation du peuple des singes (Bandar Log), la carrière du jeune Mowgli (Course du Printemps) sont quelques unes des réussites musicales du cycle, dans lequel Koechlin sait aussi être sarcastique et allusivement critique vis-à-vis de certains de ses collègues musiciens, dont il s’ingénie à épingler les tics de composition, ici intégrés dans l’évocation des singes agités. Mais la féerie l’emporte toujours, tant l’inspiration recherche avant tout la suggestion des mondes lointains, suscitant notre besoin de découverte et d’évasion. Koechlin se révèle maître des vapeurs atmosphériques, un conteur musicien et un poète à l’égal de son cycle plus ancien, les heures persanes, conçu pour piano, et orchestré en 1921. --- Stéphanie Bataille, classiquenews.com

The Alsatian-born Charles Koechlin, who died in 1950, was one of the most intriguing, forgotten figures of the French generation sired by Debussy and leading up to Messiaen and Boulez. Incredibly prolific, he labored for some 40 years, from 1899 on, over his magnum opus, "The Jungle Book," a 90-minute cycle of symphonic poems inspired by Rudyard Kipling's novel. The work encompasses all elements of Koechlin's idiosyncratic style, from the lushly exotic Impressionism of the Three Poems (heard on the RCA disc in its first recording) to the satirical modernism of "Les Bandar-log" (1940). Though this music eludes facile categorization, it suggests a composer who trod a path entirely his own, blithely unmindful of musical fashion. ---articles.chicagotribune.com

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Charles Koechlin - Music For Clarinet (2004)

2016-02-09T17:06:10Z

Charles Koechlin - Music For Clarinet (2004)

Clarinet Sonata No. 1, Op. 85
I. Allegro
II. Andante quasi adagio
III. Finale: Allegro moderato

Les confidences d'un joueur de clarinette (The Confessions of a Clarinet Player), Op. 141
I. Romance de Kasper
II. Aubade des vendanges
III. Le bouquet de fleurs des champs pour Magredel
IV. Pastorale
V. Musique de Kasper et de Waldhorn pendant le diner chez l'oncle St
VI. Marche familiere
VII. Valse rustique pour le bal a la fete d'Eckerswir
VIII. Rage de Kasper
IX. Lamento
X. Duo final du

Clarinet Sonata No. 2, Op. 86
I. Allegro ben moderato
II. Andante con moto
III. Allegro

Idylle for 2 Clarinets, Op. 155bis

14 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 178
I. Andante con moto
II. Allegretto
III. Tranquillo
IV. Tempo de Sicilienne
V. Allegretto con moto
VI. Serein, bien allant
VII. Allegro con moto
VIII. Concentre, presque adagio, sans trainer cependant
IX. Allegretto con moto
X. Andante
XI. Allegro con moto
XII. Larghetto
XIII. Allegro vivo
XIV. Allegretto

11 Monodies, Op. 216
I. Le Faune
II. Le Soir
III. La Mer aux bruits innombrables
V. La Chasse d' Artemis
X. Le Repos de Tityre

Dirk Altmann (Clarinet)
Rudolf König (Clarinet)
Johanna Busch (Cello)
Gunter Teuffel (Viola)
Sybille Mahni Haas (French Horn)
Florian Henschel (Piano)

If there’s a composer more difficult to pigeonhole than Charles Koechlin (1867–1950), I don’t know who that composer might be. A late starter who compensated by being notably prolific in a wide range of genres beyond the age of 80, Koechlin was also protean in style. Conservatory woodwind professors are fond of him as a composer of sets of accessible miniatures that are useful as recital novelties; connoisseurs of 20th-century orchestral music know him, especially through the Kipling-inspired cycle Le livre de la jungle, as a radical and unique post-Impressionistic voice. In his informative if somewhat ingenuously written notes, clarinetist Altmann cites recent thinking according to which Koechlin is an important link between Debussy and Messiaen, a perspective I find particularly insightful.

The present collection, incorporating most of the music for clarinet solo and with piano, naturally reflects the former musical persona more than the latter, although Koechlin the radical is often perceptible just beneath the surface. The two brief sonatas have a certain folklike quality, and are rich with Koechlin’s favored modal harmonies tinged with his unique form of chromaticism, also displaying the predilection for chords with open fifths that permeates much of his music. The clarinet-writing is not difficult except for an occasional, unexpected excursion into the altissimo register of the instrument.

The suite from Les confidences d’un joueur de clarinette (“The Confessions of a Clarinet Player”) is a set of vignettes intended for a film project that was never realized. (Koechlin was intensely interested in this new medium; as many readers will know, his Seven Stars’ Symphony has nothing to do with things cosmic, but rather portrays early Hollywood celebrities.) Many are for clarinet unaccompanied; since the protagonist’s friend is named Waldhorn, several other movements are for clarinet and horn. The music, accordingly, has a pastoral quality, and much of it is completely diatonic. The very brief Idylle and the op. 178 pieces are also rather harmonically and technically conservative, posing no great challenges for the clarinetist.

The musical high point of the disc comes with the Monodies, written in 1948; it is unfortunate that Altmann has given us only half of them. These unaccompanied pieces feature the widest range of expression and of musical language on this recital; all told, half of the Monodies are unmetered, and since harmony, not rhythm, was Koechlin’s greatest talent, some of the slower pieces can bog down rhythmically. But others, such as No. 3, “La mer aux bruits innombrables,” a tour-de-force involving rapid arpeggios in fourths, extensive use of the altissimo register, and other formidable technical challenges, are first-rate, uncompromising music clearly intended for masters of the instrument.

Fortunately, that is precisely what Altmann proves to be. Principal clarinet of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony since 1985, he is a former student of the superb Karl Leister, for decades virtually the only German clarinetist whose sound American clarinetists have widely admired; Altmann, who plays French Buffet clarinets—unusual, I believe, in Germany—has a dark, beautifully controlled tone that I think mavens on both sides of the Atlantic will find pleasing. He also has a monster technique, polishing off the handful of technically difficult pieces cleanly and accurately, and negotiating the high notes without showing any hint of intonation problems or sign of strain.

Virtually all of the music on this disc seems to be unavailable elsewhere, meaning it would be self-recommending even if it were not so well played. As it is, it is a must for clarinetists and for Koechlin fans. ---FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan, arkivmusic.com

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Charles Koechlin - Piano Quintet - Quartet No.3 (2009)

2018-09-12T13:29:29Z

Charles Koechlin - Piano Quintet - Quartet No.3 (2009)

Quintet for Strings and Piano, Op. 80
1	The Obscure Wait of What shall be…
2	The Enemy Attack - The Wound	12:12
3	Consoling Nature	10:17
4	Finale - The Joy	9:54

String Quartet No. 3, Op. 72
5	Very calm	3:39
6	Scherzo		4:12
7	Adagio	3:27
8	Final	2:36

Antigone Quartet:
Floriane Bonanni - violin
Saori Furukawa - violin
Aurelia Souvignet-Kowalski - viola
Pauline Bartissol - cello

Sarah Lavaud - piano

Charles Koechlin was known as a charming and highly honest man and the works on this CD confirm that it is beyond doubt that he suffered a great sense of shock as the First World War unraveled.

Although there is no suggestion that it was a conscious decision, in the works presented on this CD, one can hear the sense of anger Koechlin suffered, especially in the Scherzo of the third quartet, the horror he felt at the slaughter led to the birth of the Piano Quintet.

Performed by the Antigone Quartet and accompanied by pianist Sarah Lavaud, this disc is a wonderful representation of the French music scene at the time of World War 1. ---prestoclassical.co.uk

This disc is a perfect demonstration of what treasures might be waiting to be rediscovered among Charles Koechlin's huge and still drastically undervalued output. Both the Piano Quintet and the Third String Quartet were begun during the first world war, and the bulk of work on them was completed soon after hostilities ended; the Quartet was first performed in 1924, but Koechlin continued to revise the Quintet for another 10 years before it received its premiere.

Both works are reactions to the horrors and the carnage of the war, but stylistically they are very different. Most of the Quartet is identifiably and in some ways unremarkably French, with echoes of early Debussy and Fauré especially in the conversational exchanges of the opening movement, a diatonic slow movement and a folksy, uncomplicated finale. But the Scherzo, which is second in the sequence, is something else altogether. With its martial, trumpet-like flourishes and drumrolls, it evokes the same world as the central movement of Debussy's two-piano En Blanc et Noir, composed around the same time, but there's an extra edge of brittle sarcasm to the music that seems to prefigure early Prokofiev and Shostakovich, as well as the French composers of Les Six, several of whom were taught by Koechlin. Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras.

The 40-minute Piano Quintet is even more remarkable: it's an attempt to translate the experience of war into abstract instrumental music. The four movements all have descriptive titles – The Obscure Wait of What Shall Be; The Enemy Attack – The Wound; Consoling Nature; Finale – The Joy, and the first two contain some of the most extraordinary music Koechlin ever wrote. The first movement, spectral and glacially slow, verges on atonality at times; the second, a scherzo, brings two very different musical ideas into violent confrontation; there's then a radiant, consoling slow movement and an unbuttoned, celebratory finale, but it's the memory of the first two movements that lingers. Both works are superbly played by the young Antigone Quartet, with Sarah Lavaud joining them for the Piano Quintet. The whole disc is a revelation. ---Andrew Clements, heguardian.com

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Charles Koechlin – The Persian Hours (2006)

2016-09-23T13:01:05Z

Charles Koechlin – The Persian Hours (2006)


1.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 1. Sieste, avant le départ
2.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 2. La caravane (rêve pendant la seste)
3.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 3. L'escalade obscure
4.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 4. Matin frais, dans la haute vallée
5.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 5. En vue de la ville
6.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 6. À travers les rues
7.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 7. Chant du soir
8.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 8. Clair de lune sur les terrasses
9.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 9. Aubade
10.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 10. Roses au soleil de midi
11.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 11. À l'ombre, près de la fontaine de marbre
12.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 12. Arabesques
13.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 13. Les collines, au coucher du soleil
14.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 14. Le conteur
15.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 15. La paix du soir, au cimetière
16.    Les heures persanes, Op. 65bis: 16. Derviches dans la nuit - Clair de lune sur la place deserte

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Heinz Holliger – conductor

Special thanks to THOMAS CIANNARELLA who's sent this album to us.

The Persian Hours is a suite of 16 short movements that exists both as a piano cycle and in this orchestral guise. It's a very special, atmospheric work, mostly very slow and dreamy, and except for three or four movements (À travers les rues; the mini-tone-poem Le Conteur; and the final Dervishes dans la nuit) is often extremely quiet. The orchestration is incredibly delicate and subtle, and it's entirely typical of Koechlin that although the piece is harmonically extremely audacious for its time (1913-19), the music is so subdued that you might not be aware of its frequent polytonal or atonal basis. In short, this is a very remarkable piece, but not one for casual listening.

It's also a terribly difficult work to record, and on the whole Heinz Holliger does a much better job than Leif Segerstam for Marco Polo. In the first place, Holliger has the better orchestra, but more importantly he knocks about 10 minutes off the timing of the entire cycle. Segerstam is entirely too static; Holliger manages to convey stillness without stasis, and that is the key that makes listening to the whole thing at a sitting possible (should you be so inclined). Pity the engineers, though. The dynamic range here is almost too wide, with soft bits incredibly quiet, making the few loud outbursts a bit too noisy. It's very good sound, as might be expected from the SWR team, but not quite ideal for the work. Still, if you're in the market for The Persian Hours, this is the way to go. -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

"My dream has remained the same from the very beginning, a dream of imaginary far horizons - of the infinite, the mysteries of the night, and triumphant bursts of light."

So wrote the French composer Koechlin in 1947. Another Scriabin? Not quite. Koechlin seems to have had his dreams earthed and so avoided the perils of Messianic self-absorption. Nor did these dreams produce cerebral results. As late as 1933 and 1946 he produced major orchestral works such as Vers La Voûte Etoilée and Docteur Fabricius that pursue these arcana but steer clear of the voluptuary nature of Scriabin’s music.

The exoticism of the orient took a firm hold of European and others cultures throughout the period 1800-1950. Its forms were myriad from gimcrack salon to exalted inspiration. The Russians were particularly affected through Rimsky, Borodin and Ippolitov-Ivanov. The Americans succumbed as well with examples including Griffes Pleasure Dome and Farewell’s The Gods of the Mountains. In Belgium Biarent’s Contes’ d’Orient is a classic example - a very fine piece. In England Bantock wrote many oriental works including his philosophical masterpiece Omar Khayyam. Contemporary with the Koechlin work recorded here Delius wrote a magical score for Flecker’s play Hassan which in its final moonlit camel train departure comes close to Koechlin in Les Heures Persanes. In France there was an even long roster: Ravel (Sheherazade), Roussel (Padmavati, Evocations), Cras, Tomasi (some wonderful discoveries yet to be made there) and plenty of others.

Koechlin was not immune from this interest. His principal inspiration for Les Heures Persanes was the exotic travelogue by Pierre Loti, Vers Ispahan published in 1904. What we have here in sixteen movements is a study in atmosphere. The music is both subtle and refined. Sumptuous supercharged gestures are few and far between. Instead the music is often reflective and steadily paced. In each case the image is of a vista which has been internalised by the observer. The music concentrates on the thoughts rather than the scene.

If we ignore the two piano versions (Herbert Henck on Wergo and Kathryn Stott on Chandos) there are now two recordings of the Les Heures persanes. Around since 1993 is Segerstam’s Marco Polo (8.223504) recording with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Segerstam takes 68:56 to Holliger’s 58:03. I have compared the two. Holliger and Hänssler are businesslike yet despite the ten minute difference their reading rarely seems hasty. Segerstam favours a more languid approach and to my ears this works well with this dreamy vision of a work. In addition the Marco Polo team secured a very transparent and clear audio image in the Pfalzbau Hall in Ludwigshafen. The Sieste has a greater plangency with Marco Polo. In Caravane Holliger’s orchestral tone is hooded, less spot-lit while the Segerstam ostinato is bass deep and bitingly immediate. Travers la rue recalls Debussy’s La Mer and with Holliger is an urgent wild rumpus. On the other hand in the fleeting celebrations of Matin the Hänssler version is quicker and less mysterious. Marco Polo catches to perfection the shifting high harmonics and metallic majesty of the brass eruption. Honours are evenly divided in the shifting harmonics of Clair de lune but in Aubade Holliger is heart-easing in his evocation of bird-song while the Marco Polo is more earth-bound. Segerstam handles Le Conteur (tr. 14 - virtually a mini tone poem) with real tenderness but Holliger compensates with a much stronger presence for the gong and generally a better sense of fantasy. Swings and roundabouts.

I hope that Holliger will not stop and will go on to tackle Koechlin’s five movement Symphony of Hymns (1938: hymns to the sun, night, day, youth, life), La Cité nouvelle (1938, a fantasy tone poem after H.G. Wells - perhaps inspired by Things to Come - Koechlin was a keen cinema-goer), the First and Second Symphonies (1916, 1943-44), En Mer, La Nuit (a tone poem after Heine’s ‘North Sea’) and La Forêt (1896-1907) a further tone poem in two parts.

Across the Marco Polo-Hänssler divide my preference is for Segerstam, his plangent languor and superior recording transparency. If the work is at all important to you having both versions will provide rewards and revelations. ---Rob Barnett, musicweb-international.com

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Koechlin - Music for Flute (Fenwick Smith) [1990]

2017-06-01T15:12:30Z

Koechlin - Music for Flute (Fenwick Smith) [1990]

Fourteen Pieces For Flute And Piano, Op 157b 	(12:34)
1 	Vieille Chanson: Andante Con Moto 	0:30
2 	Gai, Assez Animé 	0:20
3 	Andante Espressivo 	0:43
4 	Moderato Con Moto 	0:43
5 	Allegro Moderato 	0:22
6 	Andante Quasi Adagio 	1:20
7 	Beau Soir: Largo 	1:07
8 	Andantino 	1:04
9 	Allegretto Con Moto 	0:57
10 	Allegretto Quasi Andantino 	0:41
11 	Allegretto 	0:40
12 	Danse Printanière: Allegretto 	0:52
13 	Marche Funèbre: Andante 	2:19
14 	Allegro Moderato 	0:44
Sonata For Two Flutes, Op 75 	(8:00)
15 	Assez Lent 	3:45
16 	Allegretto Scherzando 	0:59
17 	Allegro – Assez Lent 	3:15
Sonata For Flute And Piano, Op 52 	(12:44)
18 	Adagio Molto Tranquillo 	3:35
19 	Mouvement De Sicilienne: Allegretto Très Modéré Mais Sans Traîner 	3:05
20 	Finale: Animé Et Gai 	6:04
L'Album De Lilian Première Série, Op 139 	(19:36)
21 	Gardez Ce Teint De Jeune Fille 	1:35
22 	Fugue Sans Protocole 	0:57
23 	Valse De Réconciliation 	0:50
24 	Les Yeux Clairs 	2:07
25 	Joie De Plein Air 	0:56
26 	Patinant-Souriant 	2:58
27 	En Route Vers Le Bonheur 	4:23
28 	Pleurs 	3:08
29 	Tout Va Bien 	2:21
From L'Album De Lilian Deuxième Série, Op 149 	(11:08)
30 	Sérénade À L'étoile Errante 	3:48
31 	Swimming 	1:18
32 	Les Jeux Du Clown 	1:27
33 	Le Voyage Chimérique 	4:30
Morceau De Lecture For Flute And Piano, Op 218 	(1:41)
34 	Adagio		(1:41)

Fenwick Smith (flute)
Martin Amlin (piano)
Jayne West (soprano) [21,26,27,29]
Leone Buyse (flute) [15-17]

The French flutist Jan Merry, in a letter to Charles Koechlin’s widow shortly after the composer’s death in 1950, eloquently described the appeal of his writing for the flute: ‘This restrained emotion, always dignified, very French; without exaggeration, without affectation—how directly it goes to the heart and to the hearts of those who listen!’ Of the works included on the present recording, perhaps the Fourteen Pieces, Op 157b, best exemplify these qualities. They testify also to Koechlin’s skill as a miniaturist: each of these brief pieces establishes its particular character and mood with great economy of means. They were composed originally for unaccompanied flute as Op 157; Koechlin added a piano part later. A partial first performance was given in 1941 by Jan Merry and the composer. Op 157b is dedicated to the flutist Paul Dommel and his wife, Amy Dommel-Diéry, a pianist. They were, like Jan Merry, devoted friends of Koechlin and his music.

My first exposure to Koechlin’s music came when I was a student of Joseph Mariano at the Eastman School of Music. Mariano frequently read duos with his students, and along with the inevitable Kuhlau duets, Koechlin’s sonata for two flutes was among his favorites. The serenity of the opening and closing pages is enhanced by the liberal use of octaves and perfect fourths and fifths—a rigorous test of good intonation: and the sinuous intertwining of the two lines invites and rewards attention to the subtleties of balance, blend, color, and expression. So I am particularly happy to be joined in this recording by my colleague in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and fellow Mariano student, Leone Buyse.

Opus 52 is Koechlin’s most extended and ambitious work for the flute. His designation ‘Sonata for piano and flute’ acknowledges the substantial role of the piano—much of the first movement requires three staves for Koechlin’s far-reaching chordal progressions. He perhaps felt that his writing taxed the expressive and coloristic resources of the piano, for he briefly contemplated an arrangement of Op 52 for flute and orchestra. In the first two movements, Jan Merry’s ‘restrained emotion’ prevails—each rises only briefly to mezzoforte, and numerous performance indications encourage both players to a maximum of expressive variety within a prevailingly soft dynamic range. The improvisatory yet shapely melodic line, and the luminous harmonies with which the piano supports them, combine in a voice distinctively Koechlin’s own. In the Finale, restraint yields to an exuberant contrapuntal romp which grows out of the interval of a falling fourth. After an interlude recalling the mood of the first movements, the triplet motion steals back in, building this time to a brilliant conclusion. Koechlin dedicated the sonata to the pianist Jeanne Herscher-Clément, who premiered the work with Adolphe Hennebains, professor at the Paris Conservatory. It is recorded here for the first time, as are Opp 139, 149, and 218.

The breadth of Koechlin’s musical culture was all-encompassing: his sources range from Gregorian chant through the new Viennese school. Like Stravinsky, he wrote in various and apparently incompatible styles, but always made them identifiably his own. The sources of his extra-musical inspiration were similarly varied. They ranged from Classical mythology to Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and the ‘insolent beauty’ of the great female stars of the early sound film, in particular the London-born film idol Lilian Harvey (1907–1968). Koechlin’s fascination with Miss Harvey resulted in four series of pieces written in her honor: the Seven Songs for Gladys Op 151, no fewer than 89 cameos for solo piano, and the two Albums de Lilian Opp 139 and 149. Lilian, unfortunately, was quite uninterested in Koechlin’s efforts. His letters to her went largely unanswered, and even after a visit from Koechlin’s wife, Suzanne, Lilian did not acknowledge receipt of the music she had inspired.

The first and last of the nine vignettes in Op 139 are songs after the manner of a popular chanson. In the first, ‘Keep that schoolgirl complexion’, Koechlin speculates on Lilian’s beauty secret: at first blush the song looks to be a Palmolive testimonial; but it also celebrates her passport to stardom—the flawless beauty of her face.

The second and third movements are Satie-esque miniatures for solo piano inspired by particular scenes from Miss Harvey’s films. The ‘Fugue sans protocole’ demonstrates Koechlin’s fluent counterpoint with easy informality; the ‘Valse de la réconciliation’ passes its melodic line through unexpected keys to lovely effect. In ‘Les yeux clairs’ (‘Bright Eyes’), serene harmonies in the piano are joined by broadly arching lines in the flute to evoke the remote beauty of a film idol’s gaze. ‘Joie de plein air’ (‘Joy of the Outdoors’) brings a welcome gust of fresh air through what has been a prevailingly sultry atmosphere. Lilian Harvey was an accomplished athlete, and this non-stop toccata for solo piano gives clearly physical expression to her joy in the out-of-doors. Koechlin’s title ‘Skating-smiling’ has an exotic ring in the French ear that it conspicuously lacks in English—perhaps it is better rendered in English as ‘Patinant-souriant’. The wordless vocalise leaves us to wonder what happy thoughts the star is thinking as she skates a slow waltz, first answered, then accompanied by the flute. ‘En route vers le bonheur’ (‘On the way to Happiness’) is the most extended of the nine pieces. The flute sets out, soon joined by the piano, on an energetic excursion in jaunty triplet rhythm. Flute and vocalise intertwine in a more tranquil middle section, until the triplets return, building this time to an exultant climax. The energy dissipates, and we arrive at happiness in a radiant B major. However ‘Pleurs’ (‘Tears’) intervene: the piano introduces and briefly develops a resigned little tune, only to interrupt with a middle section of surprising violence. The piano’s angular, hyperchromatic sequences and the shrieking piccolo seem to have paid an unexpected visit from the world of Pierrot Lunaire. The outburst passes as suddenly as it came. The somber moods returns, until a soft glissando in the piano returns us magically to B major, and ‘Tout va bien’ (‘All is well’). In this last song Koechlin reveals, with gentle irony, that the serene world we have glimpsed is illusory. It exists only on the silver screen and in our imagination—yet because it has been caught on film, the illusion will last for ever.

The peculiar array of instruments called for in the second Album de Lilian doubtless contributed to the 51-year delay before its first complete performance, in a recital I presented in Boston in 1986. The series consists of intermingled movements for piano solo, for flute and piano, and for the otherworldly combination of ondes martenot and harpsichord. Eschig’s catalogue of Koechlin’s works, overseen by someone more practical-minded—if less imaginative—than Koechlin, groups the pieces for flute and piano recorded here, and for piano solo, in independent suites. Perhaps if interest in Koechlin’s music continues to increase, the remainder of Op 149 will not have to wait another 51 years for its first recording.

The Sérénade à l’étoile errante (‘Serenade for the wandering [Film] Star’) appears at first to be a solo piano piece, but the flute soon steals in, imperceptibly at first, and then joins the piano in a leisurely exploration of Koechlin’s unique sound-world. Scenes in several of her movies display Lilian Harvey’s prowess as a swimmer. If the length of the lines Koechlin writes for the flute in ‘Swimming’ are any indication, she must also have had remarkable breath control. Like ‘Pleurs’ in the first Album, the angular but lucid music depicting ‘Les jeux du clown’ (‘The Clown’s Tricks’) owes more to Schoenberg than to anyone French. The flute offers a few mild interjections which ultimately fail to divert the clown from his mischief. The last of the four pieces, ‘Le voyage chimérique’ (‘The Dream Voyage’), sketches an imaginary trip to Hollywood. (As Lilian made at least three films in the United States in the early 1930s the dream may well have been Koechlin’s own.) The score is dotted with indications of our progress: starting in ‘the mists of sleep’ a train emerges from obscurity, flies over rooftops, and plunges into the ocean (the Atlantic, presumably) which it crosses underwater. The next indication on the rather condensed itinerary is that we are crossing Arizona; excitement mounts and the tempo presses ahead as we reach California. The arrival in Hollywood is marked by a grandiose paraphrase of The Star-Spangled Banner which would doubtless have Charles Ives sitting up in his grave, saluting. With a sudden deep tolling in the piano the adventure is past, wakefulness intervenes, and with a wistful piccolo melody, the dream evaporates into stillness.

In the Morceau de lecture, or sight-reading exercise, Koechlin combines rhythmic freedom with his customary metrical freedom to create a rhapsodic, improvisatory, wide-ranging line for the flute. The piece also compresses a remarkable intensity of expression into its brief length before sinking to a somber but tranquil close.

Koechlin was a complex, fascinating, and independent spirit. While he might, with disarming naivety, entrust his listeners with his most private dreams and fantasies, his knowledge of the other arts was sophisticated and comprehensive. His firm belief in his creative imagination led to a large and astonishingly varied output, much of which remains to be performed and evaluated before his place in our musical heritage becomes clear. ---Fenwick Smith, hyperion-records.co.uk

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Koechlin - The Seven Stars Symphony, Ballade pour piano et orchestra (1992)

2016-11-09T15:06:08Z

Koechlin - The Seven Stars Symphony, Ballade pour piano et orchestra (1992)


1. Ballade For Piano And Orchestra, Op. 50 (1919) 	20:47

The Seven Stars Symphony, Op. 132 (1933)
2. I. Douglas Fairbanks 	6:15
3. II. Lilian Harvey 	2:07
4. III. Greta Garbo 	4:00
5. IV. Clara Bow 	5:23
6. V. Marlene Dietrich 	5:34
7. VI. Emil Jannings 	4:12
8. VII. Charlie Chaplin 	15:57

Bruno Rigutto – piano (track 1)
Françoise Pellié - ondes Martenot (track 4)
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
Alexandre Myrat – conductor

It was in 1933 that Charles Koechlin saw his first film, The Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings. The 65-year-old composer was at once totally bowled over by “the formidable realm of the cinema” and immediately embarked on his extraordinary Seven Stars’ Symphony. Completed within the space of a few weeks, each of its seven movements portrays (and bears a dedication to) an individual movie star of the day. The work is a curiosity, certainly, but what unexpected, weirdly beguiling and often haunting invention is encountered along the way!

Take the opening portrait of Douglas Fairbanks: no swashbuckling antics here, rather (in Koechlin’s own description) “a little oriental improvisation” of exquisite delicacy and exotic capriciousness. Elsewhere, a “pagan hymn” to Greta Garbo is entrusted to an ondes martinot: the effect is other-worldly, icy radiance allied to a ravishing luminosity. Clara Bow inspires a scherzo of flashing brilliance, Marlene Dietrich a tender meditation on a bewitching melody derived from the letters of her name (“What luck that the theme... should be as beautiful as she herself!”). The last movement is the most ambitious of all, however: a complex 15-minute character study of Charlie Chaplin which is by turns witty, affectionate, provocative and (ultimately) deeply compassionate; it represents one of Koechlin’s finest achievements.

And what of the couplings? Well, Otfrid Nies (the excellent annotator here and head of the Koechlin archive) supplied the expert orchestrations of the Quatre Interludes. When the Opera Comique of Paris commissioned a half-hour ballet from Koechlin in 1947, the result was to have been a work entitled Voyages. Not only did the score draw on five movements from the Seven Stars’ Symphony, but Koechlin also sketched out four brief episodes that were intended to link the action. Unfortunately, the 1948 premiere never materialized, so it was left to Nies to orchestrate the epigrammatic Quatre Episodes for the much-belated first airing of Voyages in December 1986. A similar misfortune befell L’Andalouse dans Barcelone, an utterly charming “little fantasie espagnole” designed to accompany a sequence of a dancing Andalusian gipsy (part of a documentary by the name of Croisieres avec l’escadre or “Cruises with the Fleet”). Alas, when Koechlin went to see the film for himself in 1934, he was crestfallen to discover that his music had been discarded altogether.

The performances are very good indeed. The admirable James Judd draws a stylish, secure response from his Berlin-based band; certainly, the strings of the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra produce an altogether more sumptuously refined sonority than do those of the Monte-Carlo PO under Alexandre Myrat on a rival EMI reissue (although Koechlin’s occasionally terrifyingly vertiginous writing would surely tax any group in the world). The recording is both rich and refined. Moreover, RCA’s copious documentation could hardly be more helpful. An intriguing, extremely well-realized issue.' --- Andrew Achenbach, gramophone.co.uk

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Koechlin: Le Docteur Fabricius - Vers la Voûte étoilée (2004)

2017-01-04T15:12:10Z

Koechlin: Le Docteur Fabricius - Vers la Voûte étoilée (2004)


1 Vers la Voûte étoilée, symphonic poem, Op. 129	12:41 	

Le Docteur Fabricius, symphonic poem after Charles Dollfus, Op. 202 
2 Le Manoir	5:06 	
3 La Douleur. Choral I	1:57 	
4 La Douleur. Choral II	1:53 	
5 La Douleur. Choral III (Canon à 6 parties)	2:16 	
6 La Révolte. Allegro moderato		0:42 	
7 La Révolte. Reprise des thèmes de la Douleur		1:16 	
8 La Révolte. Fugue	0:47 	
9 La Révolte. Rappel des thèmes de la Douleur		0:33 	
10 La Révolte. Stretto de la fugue	4:03 	
11 La Révolte. Choral, "Aus tiefer Noth..."	2:41 	
12 Le Ciel étoilé		8:57 	
13 La Nature, la Vie, l'Espoir	4:18 	
14 Réponse de l'Homme	4:39 	
15 La Joie	6:52 	
16 Choral final (sur le chant monodique initial)		5:03 	

SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Heinz Holliger - Conductor

Held in high esteem as a theorist and teacher, Charles Koechlin was less celebrated in his time as a composer; regarded later as too quaint to emulate, his eclectic and inconsistent music faded into near obscurity. Whether this 2004 CD from Hänssler triggers a Koechlin revival is uncertain, but these world-premiere recordings of Vers la Voûte étoilée and Le Docteur Fabricius help redress the neglect and provide a generous sample of Koechlin's lush and moody programmatic style. Vers la Voûte étoilée is attractive for its pretty, Impressionistic colors, but this soft nocturne is too short for anything more than its single crescendo effect. Le Docteur Fabricius has more variety and musical conflict, and Koechlin's use of dissonant counterpoint, polytonality, and atonal chromaticism provide some points of interest. However, there are few masterful or memorable touches in this work; beyond the enigmatic Ondes Martenot solo in Le Ciel étoilée, the music is labored in an academic manner and drawn out too long after its climax. The Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, under Heinz Holliger's direction, turns in a respectable performance, but it is slow to ignite, and often seems to languish in the tangled web of Koechlin's unfocused polyphony and vaporous orchestration. The sound quality is decent, but indistinct in several places. ---Blair Sanderson, AllMusic Review

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