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Lavishly illustrated with photographic and musical examples, this book provides the first comprehensive evaluation of Koechlin's life and works. As well as concentrating on major symphonic works like Koechlin's jungle Book cycle, it also discusses his attraction to the early sound film and themusic inspired by such stars as Lilian Harvey, Marlene Dietrich and Charlie Chaplin in the 1930s.
Koechlin's career provides a fascinating study of the triumph of integrity and independence over almost overwhelming odds and his rich and varied output offers a veritable treasure-trove for performers, scholars and enthusiasts alike.
In 1942, Wilfred Mellers classed Koechlin ''among the select number of contemporary composers who really matter'', yet it is only in teh 1980s that Koechlin began to achieve the recognition he deserves as a composer of breadth, vision andpowerful originality: a pioneer of polytonality and a master orchestrator who was greatly admired by contemporaries such as Faure, Debus ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

comprehensive,analytical and provoking
Robert Orledge is a consummate musicologist working in Liverpool, and this work on the neglected French composer Charles Koechlin is a wonderful profile of his entire life's work. Koechlin was a contemporary of Debussy, and Satie, yet we seldom have heard his music. Even today there is scantrecordings, and what there was in the past was inferior to our modern earsnow. I recall an excellent early disc however with the BBC Orchestra underAntal Dorati with Koechlin's Bander-Log, with Messiaen and Boulez worksincluded.Today however there are exceptions with conductor Simon Rattle,and David Zinman here.The Koechlin aesthetic followed a lifelongfascination with a full spectrum of conceptual complexities in nature, butalso classical mythology, Roman civilization, the jungle, the night,starlit sky, dreams and fantasy, yearnings for distant shores, also the seaand water. Water in particular inspired the wonderful set of piano solos"Paysages et marines (1915-16) subtitled Landscapes andSeascapes.There you will find the piano evoking a fluidity largly bysustained sounds in the lower regions of the piano,shaped yet waiting forits full decay.Creativily Koechlin was a miniaturist finding genres(as thepiano solo)as deep recepticles for these countless images,where one workcould scour through some 40 images. The Chants de Nectaires is an exampleand has an unusual premise as well, it is a work for unaccompanied flute ofsome three hours,with an array of dances,prayers, and songs. The virtuosoPierre-Yves Artaud has edited a performing version, after years ofneglect.Koechlin's other side is the Sonatinas for piano which arechildlike in their harmonic simplicity,yet not facile in their conception.Orledge identifies all of the genres in Koechlin's creative edifice with adeep focus on the elements of music at work here. Rhythm was not asimportant as harmony for instnace,yet inmelody reigns supreme.He abhorredrhythmic excursion for the mere sake of it. If anything at all Koechlin'screativity utilized his innate gift for lyricism.And being lyrical impliesa reduced focus on harmonic progression of rhythmic complexity. Orledgeadmirable covers each in succession. His life is treated in periods ratherthan genres, in that he wrote in each,however incomplete and at timesimmature that creative process proved to be.Also there is a look at hisuniqueness as an orchestrator.There are wonderful vintage photographs aswell as numerous musical examples, many being reductions and transpositionsfrom the original source. ... Read more

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Catherine Urner was the favourite American pupil of the French composer Charles Koechlin. Their correspondence which spanned over two decades is the basis for this biography of Urner - a story of love, courage and devotion. These letters also shed light on the music scene in Paris and California in the 1920s and 1930s; moreover they provide a unique perspective on the artistic struggle of a woman composer in America at that time. Catherine Urner journeyed to Paris to study with Charles Koechlin after winning a prize for several years study of music abroad. She studied with him from 1919-1921, when she returned to America and was appointed director of vocal music at Mills College. She continued to compose and give vocal recitals throughout California. She made several more trips to Paris where her first string quartet premiered at Salle Playel in 1925. Urner arranged for Koechlin to come to the United States to teach a summer course in music at the University of California/Berkeley in 1928, and during this time their affair became more intense and Koechlin persuaded her to return to France with him. Catherine lived with the Koechlin family until 1933.Koechlin harmonized many of Catherine's melodies and they collaborated on a symphonic poem, "The Bride of a God". The strain of the relationship between Catherine and Charles on the Koechlin family became too great and Catherine returned permanently to the US. In 1937 she married her friend and pupil, the organist Charles Shatto, though this happy union ended in tragedy. ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Charles Koechlin, André Koechlin, Jean-Jacques Koechlin, Alfred Koechlin-Steinbach, Sylvie Koechlin, Maurice Koechlin, Nicolas Koechlin, Lionel Koechlin, Émile Koechlin, Alfred Koechlin-Schwartz. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Élève de Gabriel Fauré, précurseur et indépendant, Charles Louis Eugène Koechlin, compositeur français, est né à Paris le 27 novembre 1867 et décédé au Canadel (Var) le 31 décembre 1950. Charles Koechlin (on prononce « Quéclin » ) appartenait à une vieille famille alsacienne : son grand-père, Jean Dollfus, avait fondé une filature à Mulhouse et son père était dessinateur pour l'industrie textile, sa petite-cousine était la femme de Gabriel Bouffet. Il a été reçu à l'École polytechnique en 1887 dans un bon rang. À l'institution de la rue Monge où il a fait ses études secondaires, il était, déjà, très passionné par la musique. Ce sera lui qui se chargera de faire des « arrangements » du petit orchestre à Polytechnique et instrumentera la première ballade de Chopin. Une fièvre typhoïde contractée pendant la seconde année l'obligera à interrompre ses études. Son rang de sortie en sera affecté ; ne pouvant plus entreprendre la carrière de marin ou d'astronome à laquelle il aspirait, il démissionnera et entrera au Conservatoire en ayant Antoine Taudou comme professeur d'harmonie, et Jules Massenet et André Gedalge comme professeurs d'harmonie et de composition. À la mort de César Franck, il deviendra l'élève de Gabriel Fauré. Doué d'une belle voix de baryton, il chantera dans les chœurs et c'est par des œuvres vocales qu'il commencera sa carrière de compositeur : poèmes de Théodore de Banville, de Leconte de Lisle. Il écrira En mer, la nuit d'après Heinrich Heine que les Conce...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Koechlin (1867-1950) was an extremely prolific French composer in virtually every genre. In the 1930s, he became fascinated with motion pictures with sound, and also becaome obsessed with film star Lillian Harvey. Conceived as 89 different vignettes for piano and other instruments, Le Portrait de Daisy Hamilton is a thinly veiled tribute to Lillian Harvey. Published here for the first time. ... Read more

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Koechlin (1867-1950) became fascinated with motion pictures with sound, and also became obsessed with film star Lillian Harvey. Conceived as 89 different vignettes for piano and other instruments, Le Portrait de Daisy Hamilton is a thinly veiled tribute to Lillian Harvey. This edition for clarinet and piano is published here for the first time.Brought to you by MindaMusic Store in NC!! ... Read more