Don Satz wrote:

>Koechlin tends to have the reputation of writing restrained and peaceful
>salon-type music.

Koechlins output is/was vey large (some 200something opus numbers) and
in this you can find very different music.  There is some very peaceful
and pleasent music esp.  the piano solo works (e.g.  the cpo disc Don
has ordered, or the wonderful *Les Heures Persaines* with Herbert Henk
on Wergo).  These have a kind of impressionist post-Debussy style which
is very pleasent and relaxing.  The orchestral works are quite different.
Koechlin composed over a long time (1900 - 1950), thus you will find a lot
of works (few of them recorded) spanning from late romantic/ impressionist
compositions up to quite complicated modernist pieces.  He also had a kind
of *lighter* side, you will find e.g.  in the basson concerto (on cpo) or
the *7 Stars Symphony*.  The orchestral version of *Les Heures Persaines*
is much more rough than the solo piano version.  The famous (?) *Livre de
la Jungle* is definitely no peaceful salon-type music (more a kind of mix
of Mahler and Debussy).  Maybe Koechlins orchestral masterpiece is *Le
Buisson Ardent*, a 40 minute modernist symphonic poem for large orchestra
and Ondes Martenot, one of his last works from the end of the 4ties.  I can
savely recommend the 3 CDs on MarcoPolo with orchestral works by Koechlin
- Les Heures Persaines, Livre de la Jungle and Le Buisson Ardent - done by
Segerstam and the Rheinland Pfalz Philharmonic - great interpretations of
impressive music!

Achim Breiling