French Music for String Orchestra

Featuring

Dick van Gasteren
Emmy Storms
Rianne Schoemaker
Ciconia Consort
Charles Koechlin
Guillaume Lekeu

Arthur Honegger
Jacques Castérède
Camille Saint-Saëns

Did you know?

1/7

Composer Biography

Charles Koechlin, a French composer, wanted to be an astronaut as a child, which is reflected in his compositions through many evocative nocturnes and mood pieces.

Composer Biography

Camille Saint-Saëns, a French composer, founded the Société Nationale de Musique to promote French music and provide a platform for young French composers, in response to the increasing influence of German music in France.

Composer Biography

Guillaume Lekeu, a relatively unknown composer, died at the age of 24 from paratyphoid fever after eating contaminated sorbet, shortly after his big breakthrough year.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Charles Koechlin, a French composer, was considered a 'sorcerer' or 'researcher of orchestral sound' due to his inexhaustible imagination and methodical approach to orchestration.

Composition History

Arthur Honegger's Symphony No. 2 for string orchestra ends hopefully and optimistically with a magnificent hymn to freedom, possibly as an act of resistance or protest against the occupation of France during WWII.

Recording & Production

This album, 'French Music for String Orchestra', is the debut album for the Ciconia Consort, a Dutch string orchestra.

Composition History

Arthur Honegger's Symphony No. 2 for string orchestra, particularly its second movement, is reminiscent of Bartók's Divertimento for string orchestra, and both works were commissioned by conductor Paul Sacher.