Paul Hindemith is among the most significant German composers of the 20th century. The Sonata for Trombone and Piano - one of a multitude of sonatas he composed for various instruments - is a lively tour de force, performed here with an additional Ruhig movement from a sonata left unfinished before he was forced to emigrate. Hindemith's songs lean towards the refined simplicity of the French melodie and are connected here with Poulenc's lyrical Oboe Sonata, Koechlin's brooding Trois Pieces, and selections by Ravel and Debussy, all specially arranged to display trombonist Guilhem Kusnierek's expert musicianship.

Sebastian Berner is one of the most prominent trumpet players of his generation: in 2022, he won first prize at the Maurice André International Competition in Paris and is principal trumpet of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. While Henri Tomasi's trumpet concerto, composed in 1948, is fairly well known, the Concertino for Trumpet and Orchestra, composed in 1913 by the Belgian Joseph Jongen, is much rarer, and the concerto by his pupil Léon Stekke, dated July 1937, is being recorded for the first time. Another world premiere is Charles Koechlin's Chants de Kervéléan, transcribed in 2008 for trumpet and orchestra by Robert Orlidge. Finally, Florent Schmitt's Suite in Three Parts was premiered in it's orchestral version in 1956 by Maurice André.

KOECHLIN Chansons bretonnes, op. 115. Cello Sonata, op. 66. DEBUSSY Cello Sonata • Peter Bruns (vc); Roglit Ishay (pn) • HÄNSSLER CD 98.258 (53:11)


The tentative thumbs-up given to the Lidstrom/Forsberg tilt at Koechlin— Chansonnes Bretonnes , Books I and II, and the Cello Sonata (Hyperion 66979, Fanfare 22:1); Book III (Hyperion 67244, Fanfare 27: 2)—is a thumbs-down after hearing this new Bruns/Ishay release. With no comparisons, Lidstrom’s dragging pace and overload of clinging sensitivity presented Koechlin’s art as recondite, arcane, fragile, spaced-out, while Bruns and Ishay’s brisker pace—often by several minutes in many of these brief pieces—animates the Breton folk-song arrangements with lift, lilt, and charm. Likewise, the novel melodic/harmonic geste of the Cello Sonata leaps from the limbo of the “interesting” chez Lidstrom/Forsberg (the consolation prize one awards music of unfathomable complexity one intends never to hear again) to the desmesne of the piquantly novel, teasing us to return. Nor are Bruns and Ishay hustling the music for an easy score, but following directions—the Andante quasi Adagio of the Sonata’s middle movement, for instance, need not be a molasses-treading dirge, as it is with Lidstrom and Forsberg. The contrast puts one in mind of Schoenberg’s quip, “My music isn’t ‘Modern,’ just poorly performed.”


While Koechlin titled the folk-song collection Vingt Chansons bretonnes , Lidstrom and Forsberg have included a Marche d’Arthur which the composer omitted “due to its brevity (five bars),” Koechlin scholar Robert Orledge notes, though the performers distend this to 28 seconds. Bruns and Ishay eschew it but give us the set of 20 pieces, as Koechlin prepared it, complete on a single disc. Their Debussy Cello Sonata seems to search for a bit more than there is to find, heard after, say, Gary Hoffmann’s breezier go at it with David Golub (Delos 3167), though their performance still gives pleasure, supplying a substantial bonus. Sound is upfront and balanced, capturing every nuance with vibrant gutsiness. Orledge’s informed liner notes confect a final elegance. The performances of choice, enthusiastically recommended.


FANFARE: Adrian Corleonis

One of the nicest organ recordings I’ve heard.

I’ve been aware of Charles Koechlin for a very long time, having played flute pieces of his for almost as long as I can remember. It’s only relatively recently however that his name seems to have been cropping up more in the CD catalogues, with fascinating and remarkable works such as the piano cycle Les Heures Persanes showing previously little known aspects of the composer. Organist Christian Schmitt has here recorded a representative sample of organ works by Koechlin, and as many of these are première recordings this disc will add considerably to our supply of Koechlinalea.

Koechlin himself was more of a pianist than an organist, and the conventional nature of earlier works such as the Choral in F minor develops into further extremes of contrapuntal extremity as evidenced by the later opus numbered Choral Final du Requiem, which pushes canonic techniques into a labyrinthine elegy. If you like Hindemith’s organ sonatas, then the three Sonatines which Koechlin wrote during 1928-29 occupy comparable melodic and harmonic territory. Koechlin’s fascination and deep study of Bach comes through strongly in the Finale of Sonatine III, and the first and second of these pieces contrast with the rest of the programme in also having lighter Pastorale movements. There is also a good deal of melodic charm in the Quatre Chorals, produced as a by-product of the composer’s own composition classes.

This programme contains what is apparently Koechlin’s last work, the eccentric Pièce pour orgue, Op. 226, which shows the composer exploring the essence of his own expressive palette in what the booklet notes describe as “sketchy textures.” More monumental is the extended Fugue Op.133 II originally written for “a symphonic string apparatus”, and with seemingly impossible chromatic lines. More gentle and improvisatory is the Adagio pour Grand-orgue Op.201, which nonetheless builds a remarkable structure in which one can become totally immersed.

The recently rebuilt 1950s Marktkirche organ is a tremendous instrument, and very well suited to this music. A more nasal French sound might arguably be more appropriate, but whether consciously or not the organ sound here points to the universality of Koechlin’s expressive world and to my ears is both appropriate and highly enjoyable. The CPO recording is very rich and deep even in plain stereo. As an SACD multi-channel experience it really is of demonstration quality. This is one of those inspiring releases which anyone keen on organ music and 20 ^th century repertoire should have around. The organ music of Charles Koechlin should hold no fears for anyone attracted by the romantic worlds of Widor and Duruflé, and indeed it often harks back to more ancient worlds in its sometimes antique style and use of the models of Bach. This organ sound is woodsmoke and nostalgia to me, and has restored my faith in its qualities as a truly expressive instrument. Superbly performed and produced with useful booklet notes, it is one of the nicest organ recordings I’ve heard for a long time.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

Koechlin's inner preoccupation with the theme of light - the changes between light and dark, sun and moon, day and night, month and season - is revealed in all his creative periods and often makes it's way into the musical interpretation itself as the playing instruction, "lumineux" (luminous); this leads to a special formal synthesis in "Les Heures Persanes". This CD was awarded the "Le Diapason d'Or"- and the "Choc Musique"-Award. Herbert Henck: piano.