Charles Koechlin, Magicien orchestrateur

I doubt if many in the know would take issue if I called Charles Koechlin the most underrated French composer of the 20th century. He was gifted, brilliant, original and his music sounds more current than ever.

Today's CD comes as a pleasant surprise, then, since it is devoted to Koechlin's treatment of other people's music. It reminds us directly and movingly that he was a great orchestrator. Magicien orchestratur (SWR Music/Hanssler Classic 93.286) puts conductor Heinz Holliger at the helm of the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR for a program that has great beauty and aural vibrancy.

Debussy's Khamma is given a glowing palette of orchestral color; Koechlin's Sur les Flots lointains (sur un Chant donne de Catherine Urner) has brevity and charm. The Koechlin orchestration of Faure's Pelleas et Melisande is perfection. It makes the impressionistic qualities of Faure's lyricism breathe with springlike rapture.

The Schubert Wandererfantasie convinces with an orchestration in keeping with Schubert's period. It's less spectacular but fun to hear. Then there is Chabrier's Bourre fantasque, a beautiful orchestration of one of the gems of the piano repertoire.

Throughout as one listens, one is reminded that Koechlin as orchestrator was at the level of Ravel when things went well. The Faure and Chabrier show that. What is good orchestration except a bringing out of the color implications of the melody-harmony sequences at hand? Koechlin does it masterfully. Holliger and the SWR Orchestra do the music just right. It's great fun to hear, a great pleasure and another reminder of Koechlin's stature.

Heinz Holliger's New Recording of Bach's Concertos and Sinfoniettas for Oboe Satisfies

The prospect of Heinz Holliger playing Bach's Concertos and Sinfoniettas for Oboe (ECM New Series) sounded quite promising to me when I heard of its release. After listening a number of times I must say it fully lives up to my expectations. You get ECM's fully resonant acoustics and you get a fully consistent approach to the music, thanks to Holliger's ravishing tone and execution and the sweetly sonorous Camerata Bern, conducted with feeling and exacting attention to detail by Erich Hobarth, who also plays the violin solo part in the Double Concerto for Violin and Oboe.

In addition to the work just mentioned the ensemble takes on a number of the sinfonia introductions that feature the oboe in various cantatas, the sinfonia from the Easter Oratorio and three Bach concertos reconstructed to feature the oboe as the principal soloist. Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor, a work Bach apparently admired, rounds out the program.

These are performances that linger over the musical elements with loving care. Holliger's sweetly lyrical approach is complemented by an almost langorous pouring outward in the strings and continuo. This is Bach with less brio and more of a loving familiarity, as one would read a favorite old story out loud to an intimate circle of friends.

It is most certainly not surpassed by any similar recording I've heard over the years. Holliger's long tenure in the limelight has given him a mature profundity that echoes sympathetically in his accompaniment. In every way this is a most satisfying performance, an instrumental centerpiece to anyone's Bach collection.