Charles Koechlin - La Course de printemps; Le Buisson ardent (Heinz Holliger)

Information

Composer: Charles Koechlin

1. La Course de printemps, Op. 95
2. Le Bouisson ardent: Part 1, Op. 203
3. Le Bouisson ardent: Part 2, Op. 171

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra

Heinz Holliger, conductor

Date: 2000

Label: Hänssler Classic

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Review

A superb introduction to this colourful early 20th-century French composer

The influence of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book on Koechlin was profound and Le course de printemps, which gestated over a very long period, was the finest of the tone poems which he gathered together under the composite title, Le livre de la jungle. Although the events depicted are certainly connected with the character and life of Mowgli, the music itself is above all evocative of the jungle itself, its exotically humid atmosphere and unpredictable bursts of violence and animal energy. The underlying sinister ambience is balanced by a Ravelian sensuality (there is even is a hint of Daphnis in the dawn evocation of the opening), while the mysteriously gentle but lustrous string monody which closes the work is other-worldly in its vision of a voluptuous moonlit spring night. Koechlin’s scoring is headily brilliant and one is engulfed in its rich panoply, so that for all the music’s ecclecticism, it has a life and individuality of its own.

Le buisson ardent makes an ideal coupling. An evocation of rebirth – at times passionately intense in the strings (9'50"-11'43), but with the ondes martenot later used to represent the ethereal voice of the reborn spirit. The shimmering gentle ecstasy then gives way to the animation and potency of life itself, first with the jollity of a country dance, but soon becoming much more complex. The work climaxes with a lusciously positive affirmation, but closes gently and rapturously.

Heinz Holliger, justly famous as oboist, shows himself equally sensitive with the baton, inspiring a splendid orchestral response from the Stuttgart players (especially the strings). They in turn are served by a first-class recording, with a tangible ambient warmth, wide dynamic range and a natural concert hall perspective. I cannot think of another CD which would make a better introduction to Koechlin’s exotic sound-world.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev//2003/May03/koechlin_ludwig.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/jan/17/classicalmusicandopera.artsfeatures2

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Charles Koechlin (27 November 1867 – 31 December 1950) was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. Among his teachers at the Paris Conservatoire were Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel and Jean Roger-Ducasse. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling, Johann Sebastian Bach, film stars (especially Lilian Harvey and Ginger Rogers), traveling, stereoscopic photography and socialism. As a composer, Koechlin was enormously prolific, and was highly eclectic in inspiration and technique.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Koechlin

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Heinz Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss virtuoso oboist, composer and conductor. He was born in Langenthal, Switzerland and studied at the conservatory of Bern. He studied composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classical pieces, but he has regularly engaged in lesser known pieces of Romantic music, as well as his own compositions. As a composer, Holliger has written many works in a variety of media. Many of his works have been recorded for the ECM label.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Holliger

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