Le Hautbois Revolutionnaire

With The Revolutionary Oboe, Christopher Palameta and the Notturna ensemble have created a captivating album that highlights a repertoire as brilliant as it is underappreciated. At the crossroads of history and rediscovery, this recording immerses the listener in the musical effervescence of the late 18th century, a time when the oboe underwent a true metamorphosis. Featuring works by Mozart, Kreutzer, Boccherini, Gluck, and Gretry, the album explores a fascinating phenomenon: the emergence of the oboe in chamber music, where it becomes an expressive solo voice, capable of rivaling the strings and conveying a musical discourse of newfound intensity. This repertoire, once prized in Parisian salons, regains it's full vitality here, carried by a historically informed and deeply vibrant performance. At the heart of the project is an exceptional instrument: an original oboe made around 1785 by the Parisian instrument maker Christophe Delusse. It's luminous tone and virtuosic potential embody this 'revolution' of the oboe, whose technical developments profoundly transformed the musical composition of the era. Several works presented here are being recorded for the first time, revealing an entire facet of French music that had fallen into obscurity and is now being brought back into the spotlight.