John Smyth wrote:

>I heard an exquisite piece of fluff the other day on the radio for harp,
>flute, clarinet and strings; it had more arpeggios per square inch than
>the Franz Liszt Memorial Library.
>
>The announcer said it was by "Kreis," (I think), who was a friend of
>Debussy's and a Rear Admiral.  I found a Kreis from an earlier period,
>but obviously not the one.  Who is this man?

I'm not sure about the piece you heard, but I suspect the composer
is Jean-Emile-Paul Cras (May 22, 1879 - September 14, 1932).  He was a
student of Duparc (himself a student of Franck), as well as a rear-admiral
in the French navy.  He apparently was responsible for some important
pre-electronic innovations in navigation, though exactly what those are is
not clear.  There's a page devoted to him at "Net-marine", the unofficial
French Navy site:

   http://www.netmarine.net/celebres/cras/celebre.htm

I can't find mention of a relationship with Debussy, but then information
about him is not easy to come by.  The article in the New Grove is but a
single paragraph, with virtually no works list.  I do have two CDs of his
music:

   Piano Concerto                    (1932)  25:59
   Symphonic Poem "Ame d'enfants"    (1918)  16:32
   Symphonic Poem "Journal de bord"  (1927)  22:46
      Pierre Reach, piano
     Rhineland Philharmonic Orchestra/James Lockhart
     Rhineland-Pfalz Philharmonic Orchestra/Pierre Stoll
   Cybella  CY803  1987  65:17

   Four Pieces for Violin & Piano    (1929)  18:50
   "Poemes Intimes" for Piano        (1911)  28:15
   Suite en Duo for Violin & Piano   (1927)  14:10
     Marie-Annick Nicolas, violin
     Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
  Skarbo  DSK4941  1995  61:15

The Cybella disc may no longer be available.  Also difficult to find are
releases of his piano music, as well as "Melodies", both on Timpani.  And
I see Skarbo has released another disc of piano music by Cras (Landscapes,
Danze, Impromptus) on DSK1986 also performed by Ferey.  The Amazon links
for the two Skarbo releases are:

Complete Works for Violin & Piano
   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000004A5L/classicalnetA/

Piano Music
   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00002CEY9/classicalnetA/

I'd characterize his music as an acerbic post-romanticism.

Dave
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