Joseph Bodin de Boismortier didn't exactly begin his career as a musician: in 1713 he was a receiver for the Royal Tobacco Office for soldiers in Roussillon. But, feeling drawn to music, he took a chance and sent a Parisian publisher several sheets of music. This proved to be a great success, which saw Boismortier leave Perpignan for Paris, where he would set up in 1723 as a composer and virtuoso. After that, he never ceased to produce and produce: to the extent that he was able to live from his music, without the need for aristocratic patronage. His first compositions, which were almost exclusively duets for transverse flute, show the deep attachment which he would always have to this instrument, which the French were said to play "with an unparalleled subtlety", according to a chronicler of their time. Averaging a rate of four collections a year from 1724 to 1747, he would eventually write 102 numbered works, within which he would combine, in all possible musical forms (solos, duets, trios, quartets, sonatas, suites and concertos), all the timbres which were then in vogue in the salons of the capital. Violins, flutes, cellos, violas de gamba, bassoons, oboes, accordions, hurdy gurdies, and harpsichords vied for his attentions, to the joy of enlightened music-lovers and their salons. It is clear that the years 1732 to 1736 marked the height of the artist's powers in relation to instrumental music (he would later turn to ballet, opera, cantata, motet, etc.). In this period a large number of collections were published, which included the trios recorded here, almost all inspired by the Italian Sonata da chiesa: slow-quick-slow-quick. The Petit Trianon, with Amandine Solano on violin, Olivier Riehl on flute, Cyril Poulet on cello, Xavier Marquis on bassoon and Paolo Corsi on harpsichord has interpreted these devilishly charming works, with an infectious cheer. © SM/Qobuz