This is the 12th volume in Hänssler Classic’s estimable series devoted to Charles Koechlin, the sixth involving Holliger as conductor. His empathy with the Frenchman’s visionary art is manifest in the earlier releases but here only five of the disc’s 77 minutes’ playing time contain music by Koechlin himself. Here the focus is on the master orchestrator of music by other hands, most famously perhaps Debussy’s ill-starred ‘légende dansée’ Khamma (1911-12, orch 1912-13). Ironically, the one original piece of his given here, Sur les flots lointains (1933) is based on a piece by a pupil of his!

The reasons for Koechlin’s work as orchestrator are many and various. In the case of Khamma, Koechlin completed the orchestration which Debussy had abandoned after 10 pages (see Robert Orledge’s Debussy and the Theatre – Cambridge: 1982 – for details). With Pélleas et Mélisande, Fauré involved his brilliant student to save himself the irksome task, although he later reorchestrated part of the concert suite given here. The reworking of Chabrier’s Bourrée fantasque was commissioned to provide a more Gallic-sounding version, while that of the Wanderer Fantasy was designed for a Balanchine ballet.

The performances by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra are beautifully poised and refined, with an audible relish for Koechlin’s instrumental magic. While Pélleas is fairly well known, Khamma and the Wanderer Fantasy are a revelation in these accounts for which Holliger takes much credit for shaping. Hänssler’s sound is splendid. Recommended.