Originally composed for two clarinets and transcribed for violin and viola by the composer, this Idylle is that of two voices accompanying each other, intermingling, responding and finally coming into harmony.
A great mastery of writing combined with a refreshing melodic line make this page of modest proportions a little jewel of balance and grace.

Born into an old Alsatian family of industrialists and engineers, Koechlin had a passion for music from an early age. Accepted into the École polytechnique in 1887, he arranged works from the repertoire for the small student orchestra. Following a long illness, he interrupted his scientific studies to enter the Paris Conservatoire. As he himself points out, his musical development continued “in the direction of the great movement towards freedom of writing by César Franck and Emmanuel Chabrier, Gabriel Fauré, then Achille Claude Debussy, and finally polytonal and atonal music”. At the same time, Koechlin was a true Bach devotee, a willing modalist who composed in all genres and formations and was inspired by both nature and cinema: "The spirit of my work, and that of my whole life, is above all a spirit of freedom.

Admired for his talents as an orchestrator, his master Gabriel Fauré entrusted him with the orchestration of his incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande (1898), and Debussy's publisher asked him to complete the ballet Khamma (1912).

In 1909, to promote contemporary music, Charles Koechlin founded the Société Musicale Indépendante with Maurice Ravel and Florent Schmitt.

In addition to his work as a composer, he was a sought-after teacher, and wrote numerous theoretical works, including a voluminous treatise on instrumentation that has become an authority. His disciples included Francis Poulenc, Roger Désormière, Germaine Tailleferre, Henri Sauguet and jazzman Cole Porter.

His wide-ranging culture and broadmindedness left a profound imprint on the French school.

Along his university studies (DEA in musicology, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne), Frédéric Cellier was awarded three first prizes and a development prize at the CNR of Nice and won first prize at the International Competition of Musical Execution - soloist category – of Stresa (Italy).
He is the laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and accredited teacher at the CNR of Nice, the CNR of Marseille, and at the CRR Olivier Messiaen of Avignon (France).
Frédéric Cellier is the interpreter of Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet Bb and piano with Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Françaix or Gabriel Tacchino, but also performs his own version for clarinet, piano and string orchestra of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue for Wynton Marsalis or under the baton of Adrian Gershwin, grandson of the composer.
Founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions, he is the author of pieces of light music and a considerable number of arrangements in all styles and for all instruments acclaimed by numerous personalities in the music world:

"Frédéric Cellier has produced a number of adaptations of Georges Auric's works with such talent and precision that I consider them a natural addition to his chamber music catalogue."
Michèle AURIC - Georges Auric's widow

"To Frédéric Cellier, excellent musician and tireless arranger."
Jean FRANÇAIX - Composer and pianist

"Arranging a musical work is always a delicate and risky exercise, because it requires both modifying it so that it can be played by the desired instruments and preserving its very essence. But that is exactly what Frédéric Cellier has done, preserving the nuances, subtleties and soul of the original works while breathing new life into them.
His arrangements give all the musicians the chance to perform these compositions specially revisited for their instrument, and make music lovers rediscover them in a new light."
Adrian GERSHWIN - George Gershwin’s grandson

"Congratulations for your beautiful new orchestration and rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue."
Wynton MARSALIS - Trumpet player, composer, bandleader, general and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

"It is outstanding that Frédéric Cellier has managed to transpose Saxophone Marmalade from the saxophone to the clarinet. I thank him for it and wish its great and deserved success. "
Manuel ROSENTHAL - Conductor, composer and Maurice Ravel’s pupil

"I am very happy to tell you how much I appreciated your transcription of the Capriccio, based on Francis Poulenc's Le Bal Masqué. It perfectly reflects the spirit and verve of the score for two pianos that I had the opportunity to play and record with Jacques Février, and it was a great pleasure for me to premiere it in Montpellier."
Gabriel TACCHINO - Pianist, Francis Poulenc’s specialist

"I must tell you that I really like your transcriptions and that I think the tone of the instruments you have chosen suits perfectly our beloved composer."
Ornella VOLTA - Musicologist, president of the Erik Satie’s Foundation