Charles Koechlin “Les Chants de Nectaire” by Nicola Woodward from HOXA
Magical Flute work from the early twentieth century composer Charles Koechlin performed by Nicola Woodward
This collection is hypnotic: magical playing as near as you will come to mesmerism in music. So unlike anything you will hear from one year to the next, these pieces captivate the ear.
‘Blissful ‘you imagine as the melodies float round your living room. But all is not what it seems in this fabulous flutey world. Composer Charles Koechlin was an eccentric genius, clever, well read and inspired by film astronomy and literature. He wrote in the 1940s and claimed Ginger Rogers as an inspiration (her orchestral works have passed me by), but it shows what an eclectic composer he was - now ranked alongside Debussy and Ravel – and indeed you can so readily hear “L’après-midi d’un Faun” and ‘La Mer’ in the soulful naïf notes of Koechlin’s work.
But it gets more complicated. What sounds like the simplest of music Charles Koechilin conceived as an homage to Nectaire, a character who appears in a famous novel of 1914 by Anatole France “La Révolte des Anges” considered the author's most profound novel. It tells the story of the angels who rebel against God and come down to earth and descend on Paris disguised as people. They plan to launch a coup d’état to put Satan (once Lucifer the Angel of Light) on the throne of Heaven ( not God). It’s all a veiled attack on the Catholic Church apparently -not to mention our own John Milton- but it’s a fun concept, fallen angels with destructive intent, disguise their true nature as they breeze about Paris’ St. Germaine des Près. Stephen Speilberg’s subterranean aliens in his War of the Worlds plot a similar scheme, but his disguised creatures remain malignly subversive until the catastrophic end. But in true Spleilberg style, Anatole France had a huge hit with his novel, now considered his very best. Here’s an excerpt from the moments when Necataire (whose songs, remember, we are about to hear) first toots his magical flute.
‘Nectaire raised the flute to his lips. . filled with the breath of creation the music told of Love, Fear, .. triumphant Laughter, the serene clarity of Intelligence and the arrows that pierce the monsters of Ignorance and Hatred. The music also spoke of Joy and Pain bending their twin heads over the Earth and of the desire that creates worlds….”
By this second set, the composer has moved to the Ancient Forest of Virgil’s pastoral writing ‘the journey through the natural world brings joy and sadness, terror and elation’. The purity of melody alone conveys these complex concepts. Koechlin worked alongside Massenet in the Ècole de Musique at the Paris Conservatoire. The poor man had tuberculosis, tragically common in those early decades of the twentieth century, so it was as well that he worked fast. By this time it might not surpise readers to hear that his final work was a massive orchestral tour de force with choral chamber and solo works. Title? ‘Le Livre de las Jungle’ . Jungle Book ,the same Kipling choice as Walt Disney forty years on. But sadly without Louis Armstrong, the King of the Swingers, whom I am sure the quirky genius Koechlin would have loved.
This whole sequence is wonderfully evoked by award winning Wigmore Hall performer and Royal Academy exhibitioner Nicola Woodward (a favourite of Prince Charles apparently but don’t let that put you off). She is a top flight performer whose enthusiasm for her instrument has led her to create a short film to introduce Les Chants de Nectaire.
And whilst other musicians are in full-on mourning and even Andrew Lloyd Webber is in despair, Nicola has launched an international flute competition. Each entrant must submit seven minutes of flute and include one of the Chants de Nectaire – plenty of choice there out of 96 – and upload them to the competition website. Next spring 2021 the Parisian publishers Gerard Billaudot Editeur the Paris publisher,will help announce the winner judged by a panel of renowned flautists.
Flute playing Cambridge Critiquers surely must have a go.
Details to be announced in 2021
