Opulent French Lyricism

More somewhat neglected repertoire on this double cd of music by French composer Charles Koechlin, another of those who straddled the 19th and 20th centuries. Heinz Holliger conducts the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart and the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart with soprano soloist Juliane Banse in Vocal Works With Orchestra. The texts set here are from a group of French poets known as the Parnassiens, who were moving away from romanticism to more virtuosic wordspinning an formal structures with an emphasis on themes from antiquity. The orchestrations are impressionistic in that distinctly French turn of the century manner and the overal impression is a languid and sensual one with just the occasional more vibrant outburst, normally at the commencement of a piece. The creamy vocal tones of Juliane Banse are ideal in this repertoire and the German orchestra aren't at all phased by having to adopt such a French style. Some of the harder edged sections recall the orchestral song settings Mahler or early Schoenberg but Koechlin wrote most of these pieces before being aware of their compositions. This is part of a worthwhile project by Holliger and the label Hanssler Classic to promote the work of Koechlin.