Koechlin: Les Heures Pesanes / Ralph Van Raat

$19.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
January 31, 2012
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      KOECHLIN, CHARLES
    • PERFORMER
      Ralph Van Raat
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      January 31, 2012
    • UPC
      747313247370
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8572473
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Instrumental
    Works ⌄

    1. No. 1. Sieste, avant le depart: Lent

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    2. No. 2. La caravane (reve, pendant la sieste): Pas vite

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    3. No. 3. L'escalade obscure: Adagio (non troppo)

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    4. No. 4. Matin frais, dans la haute vallee: Pas trop lent

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    5. No. 5. En vue de la ville: Moderato

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    6. No. 6. A travers les rues: Allegro vivo

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    7. No. 7. Chant du soir: Tres calme

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    8. No. 8. Clair de lune sur les terrasses: Andante moderato

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    9. No. 9. Aubade: Moderato

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    10. No. 10. Roses au soleil de midi: Presque adagio

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    11. No. 11. A l'ombre, pres de la fontaine de marbre: Moderato

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    12. No. 12. Arabesques: Allegro (non troppo)

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    13. No. 13. Les collines, au coucher du soleil: Tres calme

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    14. No. 14. Le conteur: Assez lent - Le Pecheur et le Genni - Le Palais enchante - Danse d'adolescents - Claire de lune sur les jardins

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    15. No. 15. La paix du soir, au cimetiere: Assez lent

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat

    16. No. 16. Derviches dans la nuit: Assez anime, nocturne, mysterieux - Variante - Clair de lune sur la place deserte

      Composer: Charles Koechlin

      Performer: Ralph van Raat




KOECHLIN Les Heures persanes • Ralph van Raat (pn) • NAXOS 8572473 (56:44)


Neither composer Charles Koechlin nor his masterpiece, translated as The Persian Hours, is nearly as well known or popular as Granados’s Goyescas or Albéniz’s Iberia, let alone the music of Debussy, so they have fallen into the category of musical oddities. (Other recordings include Kathryn Stott on Chandos 9974 and Michael Korstick on Hänssler 93246, also an orchestral version by Heinz Holliger and the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra on Hänssler 93125.) Part of the problem is that nearly all of the pieces in the suite are slow-moving, meaning that the pianist (or conductor in an orchestral version) needs to sustain not only the proper mood but also a semblance of forward momentum.


Enter pianist Ralph van Raat to the rescue. His recording of the suite, albeit slow-moving (slower, in fact, than Holliger’s orchestral recording), has such tremendous atmosphere and a sense of presence that one is seduced into Koechlin’s world and his own interpretation within the first three minutes of the recording.


Koechlin’s view of Persia (now Iran) was based on astronomical observations and a travelogue of the time rather than a first-hand trip to the area. Thus he captured a personal impression of Middle Eastern life, particularly nightlife when the stars were out and the world was still. Harmonically, he was at least as advanced as late-period Debussy, if not actually further along. Although most of these pieces tend toward a harmonically identifiable key, they skew away from it constantly; by the middle of each piece, the unobservant listener will be completely lost in regards to a harmonic base or balance. Some of them have an ostinato bass in one key, but the overlying music is in another. Indeed, it is this constant leaning away from any tonality—and the fact that the music sometimes leans in both directions at once—that gives it its unique flavor. Koechlin somehow manages to set up what sounds like a safe base but gently yet constantly pushes us away from it.


Raat’s performance, as already mentioned, is both musical and fascinating in the extreme. I do, however, question the very long pauses between each piece in the suite. After about the first 10 numbers, you’re not quite sure if each succeeding piece is the last one or not, but that’s probably a post-production decision. If you love this kind of music, this is a CD you simply cannot live without.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley