Composer: Robert Nicholas Charles Bochsa, Henri Brod, Louis Emmanuel Jadin, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Johann Peter Pixis, Robert Schumann, Sigismond Fortune Francois Thalberg, Stanislas Verroust, Gustave Vogt
Performer: Christopher Palameta, Olivia Sham
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ramée
Catalogue: RAM2108
Release: 2023
Size: 1.9 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Bochsa: Nocturne in D minor, Op. 50 No. 1
Vogt: Vocalises de Crescentini
02. No. 1, Largo espressivo
03. No. 2, Largo
04. Verroust: Aranjuez – Fantasie espagnole, Op. 34
05. Brod: Elegie sur la mort d’un objet cheri
06. Kalkbrenner: Nocturne in A flat major, Op. 121, No. 1
07. Pixis: Romanze in E minor, Op. 35
08. Thalberg: Serenade de L’Amant jaloux de Gretry
09. Jadin: Nocturne in A minor
10. Schumann: Mondnacht (No. 5 from Liederkreis, Op. 39)
‘It is simply a badge of historical injustice that oboists must wear.’ Such was the lament of Leon Goosens, echoing the commonly-held view that the nineteenth century was a time of crisis in the history of the oboe. Like a snowball effect, the idée reçue that the instrument fell into disuse because it was considered incompatible with the aesthetics of Romantic expression has been handed down across generations. This recording unearths a handful of evocative compositions from early nineteenth-century France to provide a reassessment of this commonly-held view. These works, all of which have never been recorded before, belong to a large corpus of neglected nineteenth-century chamber music for oboe and fortepiano, and bear witness to a lively, dynamic tradition of wind playing in France. Performed here on a ten-keyed French oboe by Guillaume Adler (Paris, c.1835) and a fortepiano by Erard (Paris, 1840), these sentimental and lyrical rarities beautifully highlight the unique timbres and playing characteristics of these rare original models.