Koechlin's voluminous productivity continued unabated through his final decade. As at all stages of his career, the late harvest ranged from miniatures to monuments—the 100 Chants de Nectaire for unaccompanied flute (1944), for instance, beside the vast symphonic poems Le Docteur Fabricius (1941-1946) and Part I of Le Buisson ardent (1945). Amid the profusion, the remarkable spate of music for winds—14 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 178; 14 Pieces for Oboe, Op. 179; 15 Pieces for Horn and Piano, Op. 180; 15 Études for Saxophone and Piano, Op. 188; 12 Silhouettes de comédie for Bassoon and Orchestra, Op. 193; and 15 Duos for Two Clarinets, Op. 195—mirrors the sonatas for piano and wind instruments from two and three decades earlier and, like them, provides attractive repertoire for instruments largely neglected. Of the Op. 179 set, composed over February and March 1942, Nos. 2, 3, and 5 are for oboe or oboe d'amore and piano, No. 12 is specified for oboe d'amore and piano, while Nos. 13 and 14 are for English horn and piano. Koechlin had a particular fondness for the latter instruments and composed for them often. As early as 1893 he purchased an oboe and was sufficiently serious about mastering it that he took lessons from M. Bleuzet, a teacher still recalled among practitioners of the instrument. Koechlin was also proficient on the hunting horn, which he played as a boy, as well as the French horn and saxhorn. Undoubtedly, the woodwind pieces of his old age were stimulated by the searching conspectus accorded them in his "Traité de l'orchestration," written between 1939 and 1943 (though its publication was delayed by the war and its four volumes appeared only between 1954 and 1959). Whether grave or gay, these pieces possess a coolly attenuated luminosity looking toward distant horizons, as irregular meters and sinuous melodic lines tease the ear. Nos. 3, 7, and 13, for instance are neither laments nor elegies—nor sad—but impassive, while No. 9, if not quite sinister, is passing strange. And even the spirited dance-like numbers wear a "once upon a time" mien. The premieres of Nos. 1, 2, 7, and 13 were given by Julien Singer, playing both oboe and English horn on May 25, 1984, in Kassel, while the entire set does not seem to have been heard until Jacques Vandeville's April 1994 recording, playing oboe, oboe d'amore, and English horn, and accompanied by Jean-Michel Louchart.

© Adrian Corleonis, All Music Guide