Robert Oboussier to listen to and read

65 years after Oboussier's work was almost completely silenced, the MOZ performed the Abbreviationen on April 2, 2022 at a festival organized by the Swiss Plucked Music Association. Ramon Bischoff, Swiss composer and sound engineer (www.nomar.ch), also took part in this festival, as his piece "Schwärme" was premiered by the association's orchestra zupf.helvetica. Ramon became aware of the story and was very concerned - then he began to research it.

In the interview, Ramon said that the many gaps he encountered were the main concern at the beginning of the project: there are hardly any photos, almost nothing personal from his life, an incomplete estate, few sound recordings and only a few public writings about the works. Ramon found the discrepancy between the historical appearance of the compositions, which were often premiered to great acclaim in prestigious venues, and their current absence from the repertoires of musicians and concert halls extremely unusual. The idea of finally making Oboussier's music audible again on the 125th anniversary of his birth began to grow.

Ramon selected seven musically significant compositions from 1921 - 1948 and found professional musicians who wanted to bring this music back to life with him. The recordings were made in 6 months with a wide variety of instrumentations - from solo piano to string orchestra. And as a bonus, the excerpts of the abbreviations were also recorded with the MOZ. Most of the selected works are world premiere recordings - in other words, they were recorded for the first time. Parallel to the work in the recording studio, rights had to be clarified, sponsors motivated, foundation applications written and, with NAXOS, a renowned label found to publish the music production.

Ramon originally planned an extensive booklet for the CD in order to do justice to the socio-cultural and historical significance of the work and its concealment. This idea grew into a book publication, which brought with it unexpected dimensions and new challenges in terms of content. The contributions by the seven authors have very different perspectives from the fields of music theory, media, history and sociology. The account of a contemporary witness completes the picture in a very personal way. The bilingual publication (DE/FR) also contains the first complete catalog raisonné.

My aim was to revive a work with the hope that the idea would be carried forward and the music rediscovered. My hopes were more than exceeded.

Ramon writes: "Robert Oboussier's music is an expression of his political, social and humanistic convictions. It is important to me that his works continue to convey the values for which he stood up artistically. [...] On the 125th anniversary of Robert Oboussier's birth, I hope that his music will once again be played and performed more frequently and that it can have a new impact as a symbol of social equality."

In the fall, a series of concerts, panels and readings will take place (see flyer) and the MOZ will also perform at the first two concerts.

So many wonderful and creative people were involved in this project that, in order to do them all justice, I would just like to refer to the homepage (www.oboussier.ch), where all the people and further information can be found in German, French and English.