The late-life creativity of oboist is a remarkable thing; he was 84 when this album appeared in 2023 (it was recorded a couple of years earlier). His programs, many of them centered on contemporary works, are unfailingly creative, and if he has lost a step in playing the oboe, a strenuous instrument, that is not audible to these ears. Indeed, sets himself a challenge in this group of French works of similar moderate tempo. in English is "fan," and 's plan is to "[open] up the richly colored fan of French music." The music spans many decades, and it contains works by conservatives ( ) and strong progressives ( and , represented here by the marvelous ). Yet it all seems part of a single tradition, with new shades emerging at each fold of the fan. plays an oboe d'amore version of 's , an inspired choice. Many of the pieces are quite rare, but they fit together entirely logically here. Try , by the still underrated . Some of the pieces are transcribed for oboe, but nothing goes beyond what the composers' contemporaries would have done as a matter of course. With contributing its usual superb sound (from the Radiostudio Zuerich), this is a rigorous but quite affecting album of chamber music in the great French tradition. ~ James Manheim