Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of French composer Charles Koechlin. If anyone can find even a single mention, anywhere on the internet, of an official sesquicentennial observance, I would be very curious to know. Alas, it would seem he is the very definition of a neglected composer.

You can refer to my Saturday post on this fascinating polymath to learn more about his eclectic interests and his close associations with Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy. Things will only get more Koechlin-intensive as the week progresses and I pull out all the stops. (You certainly won’t catch me pulling at that beard.)

For today, I hope you will join me for a selection from Koechlin’s music inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” and some of his very famous work as an orchestrator. The music will be recognizable, even if, apparently, the orchestrator is not.

We’ll be crushing on Koechlin, among our featured composers, this Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.