The French oboist Maurice Bourgue has died at the age of 83. ‘His tone is delicate and sweet, with the subtlest of gradations’ is how Gramophone’s Lionel Salter described Bourgue’s recording of the Poulenc Oboe Sonata (Decca), a work he frequently performed and recorded.

Born in Avignon, Bourgue left to study at the Paris Conservatory, where he studied under Étienne Baudo. Shortly after he joined the Algiers Radio Orchestra during the Algerian war in the 1950s. After winning the Geneva Competition in 1963, Bourgue rose to prominence to British audiences when in 1965 he won the oboe section of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra International Wind Competition where he gave the premiere of Malcolm Arnold’s Fantasy for Oboe. Under the direction of conductor Charles Münch, Bourgue became Principal Oboe of the Orchestre de Paris – a position he held for 12 years. Bourgue's reputation as a virtuoso oboist earned him an international following and he performed as a soloist with some of the world's most distinguished orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Chailly. 

Over his career, Bourgue was no stranger to the recording studio. With over 28 albums to his name, he championed oboe works from the early Baroque including works by Albinoni, Bach and Vivaldi to the 20^th century: Poulenc's Oboe Sonata, Britten's Metamorphoses and Dutilleux's Oboe Sonata among others.

Bourgue's passion for oboe performance extended to his teaching, he was appointed Professor of Oboe at the Paris Conservatory, a position he held for 13 years, and subsequently a similar position at the Geneva Conservatory he held until 2011.

Below you can hear Bourgue in Trios for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano (Sony) via Apple Music