Le Hautbois de Delphes (The Oboe of Delphi)
Artist’s Edition

This book-work, printed at the Atelier du Livre d’Art et de l’Estampe of the Imprimerie nationale, is a collaborative creation and a meeting of various talents, passions, men, and women marked by diverse artistic activities. The poet Patrick Quillier, the artist Alexandre Capan, the solo oboist of the National Orchestra of Cannes Vincent Tizon, and the pianist Valérie Schaeffer come together around the theme of music and find in this book a common space for expression.

The entire book is permeated by the figure of Vladimir Jankélévitch, the philosopher who dedicated much of his work to the mystery of music. His thought serves as the convergence point for these different paths. The text Le hautbois de Delphes, written by Patrick Quillier, references painters here and there, while Alexandre Capan’s pictorial and sound work counterpoints the writing, and vice versa. Meanwhile, musicians Valérie Schaeffer and Vincent Tizon perform two charming pieces for oboe and piano in the Belle Époque style (never before recorded), as well as a more meditative work for English horn, which echo, via a 33 RPM record, the poetic and artistic works.

Ultimately, all the senses are engaged in exploring the question of time and the whisper it emits, to remind us that it is nothing or almost nothing: “There is nothing so precious as this time of our life, this infinitesimal morning, this imperceptible fine point in the firmament of eternity, this tiny spring that will only happen once, and then never again.” – Vladimir Jankélévitch