Born in Paris in 1961, Hugo Reyne began studying the recorder at an early age, then moved on to the oboe. He was soon awarded diplomas and premiers prix by several conservatories and national competitions. In 1981 he won first prize at the Hurtebise International Recorder Competition, and in 1984 received first prize in chamber music at the Bruges International Competition.
As a solo recorder player he has recorded the sonatas of Handel, concertos by Corelli, the suites of Dieupart, the sonata of Anne Philidor, and a collection of pieces by Dornel, Fiocco, Gautier and Purcell. This Bach disc pursues a chamber collaboration with his friend Pierre Hantaï begun more than twenty years ago.
Long a much-appreciated collaborator of the principal figures of the Baroque movement (Frans Brüggen, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt, Jordi Savall), Hugo Reyne enjoyed a career as an orchestral musician before founding his own ensemble, La Simphonie du Marais, in 1987. He was notably principal recorder with Les Arts Florissants from 1983 to 1996. He has made concert tours of the USA, Canada, South America, Australia, Japan, and throughout Europe. He has also had occasion to conduct other ensembles, such as the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine. It is worth adding that he played the role of the music teacher in the film Le Péril jeune (1995) directed by his schoolfriend Cédric Klapisch.
Hugo Reyne conducts La Simphonie du Marais in a repertoire that goes from the beginnings of the Baroque era up to the Classical period, with particular emphasis on French music from Lully to Rameau. The ensemble has participated in many concerts in France and abroad and has recorded around thirty CDs, all critically acclaimed.
They include symphonies by Delalande, Dornel, Gautier de Marseille, Francoeur, and Philidor; theatre music and operas by Desmarest, Fiocco, and Moreau; thematic programmes on La Fontaine, Musiques à danser, Musiques aux États du Languedoc, Musiques pour les Mousquetaires; and since 1999 a collection of ten volumes devoted to the works of Lully (Accord-Universal). In addition, the label Musiques à la Chabotterie, of which he is artistic director, has released since 2006 Rebel’s Ulysse, six recorder concertos by Handel, Musiques au temps de Richelieu, and the first titles in a series devoted to Rameau: La Naissance d’Osiris (vol.2), and Concerts mis en simphonie (vol.2).
As a qualified teacher of early music, Hugo Reyne has taught in many structures, conservatories and training courses, notably at the Conservatoire National de Région in Bordeaux from 1990 to 2000 and at the corresponding institution in Marseille from 2001 to 2003.
Hugo Reyne also devotes a large part of his time to musicological research in libraries and to making published editions of early scores. For his work on the French musical patrimony, he was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture in 1998. Since 2003, Hugo Reyne has been artistic director of the festival Musique à la Chabotterie and has lived in the Vendée region.
The five works for flute by Bach presented here, composed at different periods, reflect the genius of the Kantor of Leipzig in all its diversity: composition, form, instrumentation, virtuosity, spirituality. Here performed on the recorder according to the traditions of the Baroque era, with or without obbligato harpsichord and accompanied by viola da gamba, they display an intense expressiveness, now fervent, now deeply serene.
