Oliver Talukder: Briefly Gorgeous
Cedille Records

Solo artists fashioning their own debut albums would be wise to follow the lead of Oliver Talukder, whose Briefly Gorgeous smartly checks a number of boxes. At fifty minutes, it's perfectly timed, the compositions are inspired and stylistically varied, and the pieces are terrific vehicles for his dazzling oboe technique; certainly no one will come away from this recording (its title taken from Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous) feeling shortchanged in that department. With pianist Moriah Trenk as his unerring partner, Talukder works his way through pieces by Jeffrey Agrell, Marina Dranishnikova, Alyssa Morris, Florence Price, Reena Esmail, and Arturo Márquez, with each setting appealing in different ways.

As someone raised by a Mexican mother and a Bengali father in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Talukder comes to the project with a unique perspective. Given such a background, it's no surprise the album would thematically grapple with identity, family, and belonging (in a note he included with the release, he describes its as “my own musical coming-of-age story”); it also makes sense that its material would extend beyond the United States to India and Latin America and incorporate elements of jazz, blues, and Carnatic music into its presentation.

Agrell's Blues for D. D. provides a terrific point of entry, especially for the way it features the musicians strutting their stuff and confidently operating in blues and jazz modes. The oboist's technical ability's called upon for the showpiece's blistering bebop runs, but the ever-versatile Talukder capably meets the challenge. Diametrically contrasting to it is Poème, published by Dranishnikova in 1953 and dedicated to oboist V. M. Kurlin, her lover and the inspiration for the piece. Unlike the album's extroverted works, Dranishnikova's—her only known composition—is a probing romantic expression that moves through stages of love, desire, and ultimately loss. Beginning somberly, the piece lends itself splendidly to the oboe in amplifying the vocal-like character of which the instrument's capable. Turning rhapsodic, the music oscillates between yearning, joy, and resignation with Trenk creating an elaborate romantic tapestry for Talukder to emote against. There are episodes of happiness in the eight-minute setting but also ominous intimations of tragedy too.

Composed in 2007, Morris's Four Personalities transforms the four facets of the 'Hartman Personality Test' into musical vignettes, starting with the swinging “Yellow,” which again shows how comfortably the recital partners handle a blues-jazz context. “White” is poetic and serene but, again, bluesy and almost Gershwin-esque, “Blue” pretty, introspective, and dignified, and “Red” naturally fiery, uptempo, and assertive. To create Jhula Jhule, Esmail drew upon her family history and two folk melodies in particular, the first from the song “Ankhon vina andharon re,” sourced from a recording made by her maternal grandfather, and the second from her paternal grandmother, who would sing to her the lullaby “Jhula Jhule, Jhula Jhule / Reena Rani Jhula Jhule” (“Back and forth, back and forth / Reena the Queen swings back and forth”). Esmail's heartfelt expression of family and memory unfolds as a warm, dreamlike meditation sparklingly coloured by flowing piano lines and sinuous oboe reflections.

Talukder created two original arrangements for the project, the first Five Songs by Price, who moved from Little Rock, Arkansas to Chicago in 1927, and the second Márquez's Danzón No. 2. Both also present Talukder supplementing oboe with in Price's case English horn and in Márquez's English horn, flute, and piccolo. As satisfying as all of the album pieces and performances are, it might be Price's that's the standout. Ample emotional ground is covered in thirteen minutes, and each of the songs resonates with Price's exquisite melodic touch, be it the joyful folk charm of “What's the Use?” or the lyrical sweetness of “I Grew a Rose” and “Hold Fast To Dreams.” Meanwhile, with Talukder on English horn “Night” and “To My Little Son” sing poignantly. Danzón No. 2 concludes the album with enticing dance rhythms and effervescent playing, Talukder honouring his Mexican heritage with one final bravura display of woodwind artistry.

November 2026