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http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm Posted by Martin Walker on July 12, 2012, 11:25 am 92.78.240.79 Of course, I should have realised - Koechlin was influenced by Debussy and Ravel (or what does "traces of..." mean?). No matter that he was born only 5 years after Debussy (whose orchestration in Jeux was probably influenced by Koechlin) and 8 before Ravel! I suppose he was influenced by Messiaen, too - the Ondes Martenot in Docteur Fabricius...oh, wait... I agree about Fauré, though, who really taught him. Hitherto I was under the impression that Le Livre de la Jungle was his consensus masterpiece, if there must be only one. I think he wrote several which sound refreshingly unlike Debussy and Ravel to my ears: the sense of melody, the counterpoint, the modalism he picked up from Fauré... There is another more recent recording of the piano version by Michael Korstick on Hänssler, by the way. I hope the Van Raat version sounds less - clinical...

Re: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm Posted by Dan Morgan on July 12, 2012, 12:47 pm, in reply to "http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm" 62.56.51.71 Dear Mr Walker Thanks for your comments. I understand from Len that one of my sentences in this review was garbled in the editing and has since been restored. However, I am puzzled by your reaction to the 'traces of Debussy and Ravel', links which Ralph van Raat acknowledges in his liner-notes. Also, there may be many readers who are not as steeped in the music of Koechlin as you are, and I find it useful to try and contextualise unfamiliar music with a passing reference to that which is probably better known.

Re: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm Posted by Martin Walker on July 12, 2012, 5:24 pm, in reply to "Re: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm" 92.78.184.101 Well, my reaction was owing to what I felt was an implication of derivation, as a trace of x means it comes from x; if this sentence read "fleeting similarities to the music of Debussy and Ravel" I would concur. My response was a little sarcastic, but I actually meant to direct those readers' attention to Koechlin's prophetic quality and away from a possible comfy feeling that Koechlin might be a derivative minority interest. They could start with either the Heures Persanes or the Jungle Book, possibly making a detour to the delightfully entertaining 7 Stars Symphony before investigating Docteur Fabricius and others. Thank you, Mr Morgan, for an opportunity to ride my hobbyhorse! And I hope you will review more Koechlin, since you have in my humble estimation a talent for describing its qualities.

Re: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm Posted by Dan Morgan on July 12, 2012, 7:23 pm, in reply to "Re: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Koechlin_Heures_8572473.htm" 80.3.76.182 Thanks for your kind comments. I see how that remark could be misconstrued; I would certainly agree that Koechlin was pulling ahead of his contemporaries - in France at least - a gap that was to get much wider in the 1920s and 1930s. And I'm happy to concede that The Jungle Book is the more significant work - his masterpiece, if we must nominate one - and I have asked Len to amend my copy accordingly.

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