Special offer. Koechlin: Les Heures Persanes, Op. 65
Ralph van Raat (piano)
It's good to have a bargain-price version from Naxos, and Ralph van Raat is a thoughtful interpreter...when Koechlin creates a palpable sense of rhythm he is excellent, as in the dynamic build-up...
Special offer. Koechlin: Les Heures Persanes, Op. 65
Ralph van Raat (piano)
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It's good to have a bargain-price version from Naxos, and Ralph van Raat is a thoughtful interpreter...when Koechlin creates a palpable sense of rhythm he is excellent, as in the dynamic build-up...
About
A pupil of Massenet and Fauré, the prolific French composer and teacher Charles Koechlin expanded traditional harmonies and compositional techniques and was much admired by his contemporaries. Les heures persanes was inspired by Vers Ispahan, Pierre Loti’s diary of a journey through Persia. Oriental atmospheres are recreated through cycles of day and night, and in piano writing completely new for its time. This evocative piece salutes Koechlin’s musical forebears as well as foreshadowing Messiaen through the “passionate and skilled” (The Sunday Times on 8572570) advocacy of Ralph van Raat.
Contents and tracklist
No. 14, Le conteur: Assez lent - Le Pecheur et le Genni - Le Palais enchante - Danse d'adolescents - Claire de lune sur les jardins
Track length7:22
Awards and reviews
March 2012
It's good to have a bargain-price version from Naxos, and Ralph van Raat is a thoughtful interpreter...when Koechlin creates a palpable sense of rhythm he is excellent, as in the dynamic build-up of 'Le caravane', and in the rare fast movements
April 2012
Les heures persanes unfolds in a dreamlike way in Ralph van Raat's committed reading, playing that is truly inside the music - an artist ploughing his own furrow
July 2012
As much as I’ve enjoyed van Raat’s previous discs this one is really rather special. His judgment is impeccable and the playing is free of artifice or exaggeration. That, coupled with top-notch sound, makes this a mandatory purchase for all pianophiles.
