Bassoonery

[gurnemanz]

When I happened to be passing, I recently attended a lunchtime concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields for solo clarinet with Luca Luciano. It was very good indeed and it struck me that an unaccompanied solo wind concert must be something of a rarity. I just wondered whether any one had ever experienced a solo bassoon event.

[Tony Halstead]

Re #15

it's not often that the contrabassoon appears in solo guise (it doesn't often even turn up in performances of Mozart's Gran Partita).

No, indeed, Mozart's indicated bass instrument in the 'Gran Partita' is a double bass. How else could his 'pizzicato' instruction in a few places be realised?

[aeolium]

Re #15

No, indeed, Mozart's indicated bass instrument in the 'Gran Partita' is a double bass. How else could his 'pizzicato' instruction in a few places be realised?

Yet sometimes the contrabassoon is used instead of the double-bass (in fact the last performance I attended of this work, last year, had a contrabassoon). I've no idea what it does in those pizzicato passages. It's strange that the work is sometimes called "Serenade for 13 Wind".

[MrGongGong]

18 messages and no mention of the great Vernon Elliot ? Probably one of the most widely heard (in the uk at least) bassoonists there has been ! Much of his music available on the wonderful Trunk Records (clangers , Ivor etc)
John Orford is rather good as well Imv

[Suffolkcoastal]

18 messages and no mention of the great Vernon Elliot ? Probably one of the most widely heard (in the uk at least) bassoonists there has been ! Much of his music available on the wonderful Trunk Records (clangers , Ivor etc)
John Orford is rather good as well Imv

He came to my School in the early 80's to conduct a local orchestra, bringing his daughter to play the bassoon. He was reported as walking around the music room (which was serving as the green room) just before going out to conduct as trying to wind himself up like a clockwork toy and then waddling around like one. He came over as very eccentric during the concert too!

One concerto we have mentioned so far I think is the Hummel plus the Elgar Romance of course. I also have another written by Ellen Zwilich in 1992.

[MickyD]

You might expect me to say this, but some of the loveliest writing for bassoon can be found in the operas of Rameau.

[Beresford]

You might expect me to say this, but some of the loveliest writing for bassoon can be found in the operas of Rameau.

Can you point me to some of the best bits, and performances?

Also I would be keen to try any modern bassoon music that uses extended technique, like the Gubaidulina mentioned by LMP in post #13, if there is any.

[richardfinegold]

Me and the bassoon - two reminiscences:

1) About 40 years ago I bought a Supraphon LP of Vivaldi wind concertos with Milan Munclinger and Ars Rediviva, (still there in the garage). I remember loving the bassoon concerto. It's on Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/Antonio-Vival.../master/275026

2) A bassoonist from the Gewandhaus Orchestra lived in the flat above my girl friend (now wife) when I was teaching English in Leipzig in the 70s. He liked to practise in the morning, starting quite early. It would form a pleasant accompaniment to whatever we were up to at the time. Years later we met him again after a concert the Gewandhaus gave at the Proms.

Did the Gewandhaus bassoonist ever learn of what activities he was providing accompaniment to?
My favorite bassoon movement is towards the end of I Of the Beethoven VC. After the cadenza, the bassoon reprises the main theme of the movement, and it just sounds so lovely compared to the preceding Violin pyrotechnics

[ardcarp]

Some good bassoon writing in Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante, sometimes known as his Symphony No 105. It's a great piece IMO.

And for something completely different, Malcolm Arnold's Fantasy for Solo Bassoon; apart from anything else, a terrific example of how to compose just using a solo line.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I may have mentioned this before, but Beethoven's Fourth Symphony contains some of the best writing for Bassoon ever imagined.

[ahinton]

I may have mentioned this before, but Beethoven's Fourth Symphony contains some of the best writing for Bassoon ever imagined.

I don't know if you have mentioned it previously but I'm glad that you have now. Agreed!

[EdgeleyRob]

A 21 minute/4 movement Sonata for solo bassoon that really works and holds it's interest (to my ears)



In the Naxos Library if you have access

The Gordon Jacob Partita for solo bassoon is charming,couple of versions on you tube

[MickyD]

Can you point me to some of the best bits, and performances?

Also I would be keen to try any modern bassoon music that uses extended technique, like the Gubaidulina mentioned by LMP in post #13, if there is any.

So many of them, Beresford. In particular, the groaning bassoon in 'Tristes apprêts' from 'Castor et Pollux' and that divine orchestral "Entrée de Polymnie" from "Les Boréades". Gardiner does the latter beautifullly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F30QTq9tQ28


As for the Castor et Pollux, I have a lovely old Erato/Farncombe recording, but there are various other good ones, such as this with Agnès Mellon and Les Arts Florissants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36NnC4sgOOg

This was my first intro to the baroque bassoon, I still love this disc:

[Keraulophone]

Title piece by Gordon Jacob. Mixed recital includes Elgar's Romance Op 62 and Saint-Saëns's last work, the genial Sonata in G.


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