Charles KOECHLIN (1867-1950 )
Works for Ensembles
Paysages et Marine, op.63 [24:12]
Sonatine for oboe d'amore with flute, clarinet, harpsichord and string sextet,
op.194 no.1 (1942-43) [10:31]
Sonatine for oboe d'amore with flute, clarinet, harpsichord and string sextet,
op.194 no.2 (1942-43) [9:54]
Wind Septet (1937) [13:58]
Sonate a 7, op.221 (1948-49) [12:41]
Ensemble Contraste, Ensemble Initium
rec. Vincennes, France, October and December 2011.
TIMPANI 1C1193 [71:16]
Sonatas and Suite
Pierre de BRÉVILLE (1861-1949)
Sonata for viola and piano (1944) [18:52]
Charles KOECHLIN (1867-1950 )
Sonata for viola and piano, op.53 (1911-15) [29:53]
Charles TOURNEMIRE (1870-1939)
Suite en trois parties, for viola and piano, op.11 (1897) [17:15]
James Parker (piano) and Steven Dann (viola)
rec. Salle Françoys-Bernier, Saint-Irénée, Quebec, May
2011.
ATMA CLASSIQUE ACD 22519 [66:00]
Charles KOECHLIN (1867-1950 )
Piano Quintet, op.80 (1908/1911/1917-21) [41:57]
String Quartet no.3, op.72 (1917-21) [13:48]
Sarah Lavaud (piano)
Antigone Quartet
rec. Studio Tibor Varga, Grimisuat, Switzerland, 1-5 December 2008.
AR RÉ-SÉ AR2009-1 [55:45]
Charles KOECHLIN (1867-1950 )
Andante for violin and piano, op.6 no.3 (1898) [3:50]
Allegretto for violin and piano, op.6 no.2 [2:29]
Quatre Petites Pièces, for violin, horn and piano, op.32 (1897-1907)
[9:00]
Lamento for piano, violin, cello and horn [7:10]
Sonata for violin and piano, op.64 (1915/16) [35:10]
Choral sur le Nom de Fauré, for piano, op.73 no.2 [2:49]
Pièce, for piano, op.83 no.2 [1:54]
Idylle, for violin and viola, op.155 no.2 (1936) [1:39]
Pièce, for violin and piano (1906) [2:29]
Raimond Lissy (violin)
Jan Latham-Koenig (piano)
Raphael Flieder (cello), Wolfgang Vladar (horn), Helmut Zehetner (viola)
rec. Studio Baumgarten, Vienna, August 1998.
VMS VMS187 [66:30]
Many music-lovers will be surprised to learn that there is now a significant
amount of Charles Koechlin's corpus available on CD. Moreover, discographic
attention to this most underrated of French composers appears to be growing
still, as this clutch of chamber recordings, all released in the first half
of 2013, indicates. There is more yet: 2013 alone has seen Koechlin's Flute
Sonata on EMS (VI102), the Wind Septet on BIS (CD-2072), the Modal Sonatina
for flute and clarinet on ATMA (ACD 22679) and his complete works for saxophone
on three CDs on Brilliant Classics (9266). Most impressive of all is Hänssler
Classic's often excellent all-Koechlin series, which recently added its eleventh
volumes.
One thing made clear by this aural feast is that Koechlin - whose Alsace-originating
name is pronounced as if written Kéclin (rhyming with French 'né'
and nasal 'vin') - deserves to be known today as much more than the orchestrator
of Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande suite. Long-lived British
critic Wilfrid Mellers ranked Koechlin as "among the very select number of
contemporary composers who really matter". For 1942 this was a particularly
prescient remark, and it is surely only a lack of exposure that prevents him
from taking his rightful place in the pantheon alongside, Debussy, Ravel,
Fauré, Saint-Saëns and one or two other French masters.
The Piano Quintet is typical of the quality of Koechlin's output. Newly re-released
on the French all-female AR Ré-Sé label in bright but good audio,
and given a tremendously sensitive account by Sarah Lavaud and the Antigone
Quartet, this is a massive work of great originality. A glacial, quasi-mystical
opening movement gives way to the fauvist intensity of the second and the
languorous serenity of the finale, all emotionally intensified by philosophical
movement titles applied by a composer reflecting on the horrors of the Great
War: 'The obscure wait of what will be…' / 'Enemy attack - the wound'
/ 'Nature consoles' / 'Joy'. Paired with the much shorter, more austere, less
immediate Third String Quartet, the Quintet constitutes a glaring, unforgivable
omission from the repertoire.
Much the same may be said of Koechlin's Viola Sonata, performed with passion
and precision by the highly experienced, all-Canadian team of Steven Dann
and Jamie Parker on ATMA Classique's new release (the one with the curious
cover). In their scintillating recital, Dann and Parker - respectively violist
for the Smithsonian Chamber Players and pianist of the Gryphon Trio - sandwich
Koechlin between Charles Tournemire and the relatively unknown Pierre de Bréville.
Unlike Koechlin, these two were not disciples of Fauré, but César
Franck. Regardless, Tournemire's virtuosic Suite - in all but name a sonata
- is instantly memorable, and de Bréville's sparkling Franckian sonata,
showing little sign of having been written in 1944, would be recognised as
a classic if written by a more illustrious contemporary. Both works are premiere
recordings, sound quality is very good; and this is an excellent disc.
The VMS disc - presumably another re-release - is less well recorded than
the others reviewed here, with a certain amount of background hiss audible.
Doubling as producer, Austrian violinist Raimund Lissy must take his share
of the blame for this, as he certainly must for his own absurdly heavy breathing
in the Sonata. The rather oddball programme includes a couple of solo pieces
for piano towards the end, and then two short pieces where the recording quality
drops further: whilst the Idylle for violin and viola is extremely bright
and one or other of the soloists appears to be having an attack of catarrh
during performance, the final thirty seconds of the Pièce for violin
and piano sounds tacked on in something not far off mono. Nevertheless, despite
engineering issues and ignoring the last few unsatisfying minutes, this is
an absorbing recital containing some special works, none more so than the
highly imaginative Violin Sonata, which sadly, despite a large oeuvre amounting
to 226 opus numbers (not 225 as stated in the booklet), is Koechlin's only
essay in the genre. This rhapsodising, hypnotising work in four movements,
including an expansive finale, must not be allowed to languish in obscurity
a moment longer. For compelling evidence of Fauré's tuition and influence
audiences need look no further than the opening Andante and Allegretto from
Koechlin's op.6: simple, timeless, gorgeous tunes out of nowhere. The addition
of the horn in Lamento and the Four Little Pieces only enhances their affecting
lyricism, leaving the listener stunned that these delectable works are only
now seeing the light of day.
As an old man Koechlin wrote: "One of the most dreadful diseases of our day
is the desire to be modern", but he was not a stuffy conservative himself.
Far from it, in fact - he counted among his friends virtually all the leading
French musicians of his day, old and young, adventurous and less so, and acknowledged
and even assimilated all the trends. His music, consequently, is a highly
appealing blend of late-romanticism and impressionism, though he does not
hesitate to blend in other styles where appropriate. In fact, his oeuvre is
a veritable treasure trove of melodies - Koechlin's ability to conjure up
lyrical passages that seem to have always existed must rank alongside Tchaikovsky's;
in the context of the 20th century he may be unrivalled.
Michel Fleury's remarks on Koechlin in the Timpani booklet bear the title
'Open Air Music', alluding to the idea that Koechlin was an 'outdoor' kind
of composer. Certainly in this splendid recording nature's big, bold canvases
are very much in evidence, nowhere more so than in the retrospective Paysages
et Marines ('Landscapes and Seascapes'), one of Koechlin's key works.
The spirited Wind Septet is also available on the Brilliant Classics triplex
(9266), where it suffers quite severe distortion towards the adrenalised end,
microphones unable to cope with a combination of volume and high pitches.
Timpani's engineers show Brilliant how it should be done. The two French chamber
ensembles Contraste and Initium, one wind-based, one strings, give elegant,
expressive readings of some of Koechlin's most imaginatively scored works.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
An aural feast of Koechlin.
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