Devienne was a professor of flute at the Conservatory of Music of Paris and bassoonist in the orchestra of the grand opera theatre of Paris in 1796. In these pieces Devienne demonstrates his mastery of gallant conversation with an admirably light touch. In these works it is the bassoon and the violin that shape the musical events. Laurent Lefèvre won the Premier Grand Prix at the Concours International d'Exécution musicale of Geneva. He is the first bassoon soloist in the orchestra of the Opéra national de Paris. He has made solo appearances in many orchestras and festivals in Germany, Swizterland, Argentina and Belgium.

The well-known Concert de la Loge, the period instruments orchestra led by the violinist Julien Chauvin, return with the third episode of Haydn’s journey in Paris. His complete Parisian Symphonies recording continues this Autumn with the number 82 nicknamed ‘The Bear’. It is coupled with the Symphonie concertante for bassoon, horn, flute and oboe of one of his contemporaries, François Devienne. This colourful third volume draws a witty and virtuoso panorama of French 18th century music.

This is a very nice recording of bassoon concertos by the Mozart of Paris, Francois Devienne. Eckart Huebner is a masterful player with a nice sound, good interpretation, great intonation, and brings out the musicality which occasionally lacks or is absent in Devienne recordings. His notes are well written and provide background with thoughts and conjecture concerning each of the concertos and the mysterious 2nd bassoon concerto of Mozart which has been attributed to Devienne.

François Devienne (Joinville, January 31, 1759 - Charenton, September 5, 1803) was a French composer, nicknamed the "French Mozart '. François Devienne is the last of fourteen children of a manufacturer of saddles. He quickly comes into contact with music since, after learning several instruments at an early stage with his older brother, he becomes a child of ur hp in his hometown. This musical approach allows him to apply later in various Parisian ensembles as a soloist and member of orchestras and, better still, he joined in 1780 at the Kleber. He plays the flute (which he taught Felix Rault), bassoon (it began in 1788, bassoonist at the Théâtre de Monsieur then at the Paris Opera in 1793).

François Devienne was among the most important composers of wind music in the second half of the 18th century and one of the founding teachers at the newly established Paris Conservatoire in 1795. Devienne’s First Flute Concerto was a great success at the 1782 Concert Spirituel and helped his reputation abroad. The Fourth is one of the best of his entire concerto output. All of these works combine sublime melodic elegance and graceful virtuosity, making them among the most attractive concertos of their time.

The starting-point for this unique recital is a true Mozart rarity, the Sonata for bassoon and cello K292 which Mozart wrote in 1775, pairing the bass members of string and wind families not to comic effect but rather demonstrating their expressive versatility and contrasting tone-colors, in the hands of sufficiently practiced performers; the Sonata is accessible by only the most skilled amateur performers such as its original dedicatee, the nobleman, pianist and occasional bassoonist Thaddaus Wolfgang von Dürnitz. The counts considerable musical gifts may be judged from the teenaged Mozarts dedication of the Piano Sonata K284 in the same year: one of the composers first works of absolute genius, notably in the extraordinary landscape of its long theme-and-variation finale.

François Devienne (1759-1803), sometimes nicknamed the French Mozart, was equaled famed for his talents as a flautist and a bassoonist. He was one of the first professors at the Paris Conservatoire, established in the early years of the Republic. Devienne devoted a large proportion of his compositions, in several different forms, to the two instruments of which he was a virtuoso exponent. The programme presents several of his trios, which combine the violin and the cello with the two wind instruments in turn. These works possess all the charm of the galant aesthetic that developed in the late eighteenth century, along with a certain penchant for virtuosity.