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(Fernand Oubradous - did for the Bassoon what Landowska did for the Harpsichord)

Fernand Oubradous had a long and celebrated career throughout France and Europe. In addition to his work on Bassoon, he was also an accomplished clarinetist as well as conductor and led his own orchestra in a series of award winning recordings for French Pathe` in the 1950s.

So we're posting something a bit more familiar today - Mozart: Bassoon Concerto K. 191 with Fernand Oubradous, Bassoon and an unnamed chamber orchestra conducted by Eugene Bigot. Recorded in Paris for HMV, June 23, 1936. This particular recording is from Victor set - M-704, as it was released in the U.S.

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(Maurice Ravel - if you're only going to write one string quartet, make it immortal)

Heading over to more familiar music this week. The String Quartet in F by Maurice Ravel in one of the first recordings of the work (I think the first electrical recording was by the Capet Quartet), by the Krettly Quartet of Paris. Recorded for the French division of His Master's Voice in Paris on March 22, 1929.

Over the years this work has been recorded hundreds of times by a whole range of outfits, and certainly people who are familiar with it have their preferences. But it's always nice to be reminded of when a work was relatively new and its first performance was not that far in the past. And even though the Quartet in F first came about in 1903, "new music" took its time to get public acceptance going and no doubt a lot of people heard this recording for the first time when it was issued in 1929, some 26 years later.

We think of 26 years now as an eternity - but things moved a lot slower when the Ravel Quartet in F was new.

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(Paul Hindemith - complicated relationships)

This week's batch of 78's is the Violin Concerto written in 1939 by the German composer Paul Hindemith. It was slated to be premiered in Germany that year, but fate and the Nazi's had other plans and it was finally performed in Holland in 1940, with Hindemith having migrated to Switzerland in 1938 and eventually living and working in New York by 1940.

This recording, made in Paris for French HMV in 1948, features the violinist Henri Merckel with the Lamoureux Orchestra led by Roger Desormiere.

Don't quote me on this, but I think this is the first commercial recording of the concerto.

Pruning Shears: Steny Hoyer - Worst Democrat Alive, or Ever?

Beggars Cant Be Choosers: An American Progressive in Paris

MyDD: A Garlic Milkshake Recipe for John Boehner

Just An Earth-Bound Misfit: It may be too early yet

Home of the Urban Chameleon: How one black man defeated the Ku Klux Klan

Grits for Breakfast: World Prison Population List: All nations incarcerate at a lower rate than Texas

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(Pamela Hute - What Paris is sounding like these days)

I first discovered Pamela Hute during one of my browses on MySpace in 2006. Her first ep hadn't come out yet and her player had a demo track for Chocolate Soup, the first song of hers I ever heard.

I was hooked after the first ten seconds and I've been a fan ever since.

This track, Hysterical is off her new album Ghost (coming out in December), but she has a new ep called Turtle Tales From Overseas that has this track on it as well. It's available now and I would urge you to fall by her site and pick one up. Her previous ep's have sold out rather quickly, although they are available from iTunes.

Hute is French, but she splits her time between Paris and London and has been doing a lot of club and concert dates all over Europe the past year and several videos.

I have no idea if there are plans to bring her and her band to the States. It would be rather cool if they did (I think she just signed to Warners in France) - but as has happened so many times before, I'm not going to hold my breath.

But check this out in the meantime and visit her site.

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(Georges Ulmer - actually from Denmark but no one seemed to mind)

Another virtual unknown here in the States, but a huge artist in France in the 1940s and 50s. Georges Ulmer actually migrated to France via Spain from Denmark where he established a long and successful career and singer, songwriter and actor. His biggest hit was the 1944 "Pigalle" which actually was translated and recorded over here by many American artists at the time and has been reissued quite a lot in France over the years.

This track, a 1946 recording for French Columbia called Nuits de Paris features the band of Alix Combelle who was best known over here for his association with Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and 40s. Another very popular figure in French Jazz throughout the world, Combelle also worked with numerous American musicians, including Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton and Stan Kenton who were visiting and gigging around Paris in the 1940s and 50s.

Listening to this track you can understand why.

In some less-than-shocking news, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher quit the band moments before they were supposed to take the stage at a festival in Europe last week. In a statement released on oasisnet.com, Noel had this to say:

“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer... Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan.”

Who knows how long this break-up will last, since the band of brothers is notorious for their years of constant scuffles.

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A little Beethoven for this Sunday night. Recorded for Pathe` in Paris in 1938 by Boris Zadri, an all but forgotten name to collectors but an only slightly more familiar name with fans of the piano.

Another point of view on Beethoven. This time French.

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(Henri Salvador - rumored to have introduced France to Rock n' Roll, but later denied it)

Okay, I promise - next week we're going back to the 60s 70s and 80s. But here we are, Sunday night - everything bordering on mellow. So why not pay a little visit to the art of Chanson Francaise and one of its most well-known practitioners Henri Salvador?

Henri Salvador, a native of French Guyana started out as a nightclub guitarist accompanying other artists in Paris in the early 1930s. In the late 1940's he turned to singing and established a major reputation for himself in France. He was hugely popular all through the 1950's and 60s. It was said he had introduced France to American Rock n' Roll (recording under the pseudonym Henry Cording) and later disavowed any knowledge of diving into a musical form he really couldn't stand.

Nonetheless, Salvador enjoyed a long career, surfacing in later life to do voiceovers on film before his death in 2008.

Ciel de Paris is from 1953, during his early period, recording for Polydor in France with the orchestra led by Jo Boyer.

The record is a little worn - no doubt it provided background music to a lot of romantic evenings.

Just guessing . . .

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(Denise Soriano (upper left) Jules Boucherit (upper right) Devy Ehrlih (lower left) Serge Blanc (lower right) - taken in 1942)

A lot has been written about this particular recording, mostly that it hasn't been available in practically any form since it was first issued as a 78 set by Pathe in 1934.

Magda Tagliaferro has recorded a lot during her career. She also had the chance to know and tour with the likes of Gabriel Faure, the composer of this sonata. But not a whole lot is known about the violinist, Denise Soriano, other than the fact that the relatively few commercial recordings she made were brilliant. Sadly, Soriano died in 2006 at the age of 90 after a career centered mostly in Europe and South America. She was married to the violinist Jules Boucherit and frequently collaborated with Tagliaferro in the 1930's and 1940's.

Suffice to say, this is a special recording made by two extraordinary musicians who have not become household names. Too bad for us.

(JFK meets DeGaulle, while Jackie charms Paris)

"President Kennedy began his first day in Paris by saying at Orly Airport 'I come not merely because of the past, but because of future associations in defense of the West'. He ended his day by telling an Elysee Palace dinner 'American forces will remain in Europe as long as they are required. Ready to meet any threat with whatever response is needed'. All this was aimed at the question uppermost in President DeGaulle's mind - resisting Soviet pressures on Berlin with the utmost Western strength. Privately, President Kennedy has given this assurance to DeGaulle. For this reason, he's very welcome here." - Sandor Vanocur, NBC News

As the first European visit of President Obama comes to an end, I was thinking of an earlier Presidential visit, during his first year in office. John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy arrived in Paris on the first leg of a European visit which included several conferences and a much anticipated meeting with Nikita Khruschev in Vienna. Europe was intrigued by the new President and, then as now, was charmed by the new first Lady. The only difference was, Kennedy was about to face two of the biggest challenges of his Presidency: Cuba and Berlin, all direct results of the Cold War. Today the world is different. But the challenges are just as severe.