I'm a Bassoon!!!,... Thread

[snyprrr]

The Rite of Spring.

ok,... next Thread!



haha,... seriously, up for consideration is the bassoon, an instrument for which I have mixed feelings. I seem to feel that it works best with others,... it's a "people person" so to speak, haha.

The solo bassoon music I've heard,... well,...mmm,... perhaps there is the Berio piece, which I haven't heard yet (it's not a transcription, is it?),... and I'm sure there's a few French recital pieces (I've got a real  inducing Paganini Variations for solo bassoon somewhere), but, it appears that the bass clarinet's fruitier and more complex tone has one out in the Music Wars of the 20th Century.

As far as I know, no one has done more for the modern bassoon than the tag team of Valery Popov and Sofia Gubaidulina. Perhaps someone is more familiar than I.



The Zelenka Trio Sonatas have two bassoons, I believe, in certain bits, that contribute greatly to the unique sound of these Masterpieces. Perhaps the bassoon was always meant to play second fiddle, so to speak. Only in its occulted way does it shine?



As far as concertos,... one only has to search the Villa-Lobos piece to get probably all the bassoon concerto cds out there. I'm sure someone can fill in on the Baroque and Classical tip, as I'm sure Vivaldi has 1001!



What is the secret of the bassoon (and contra-)? I'm curious.

[PaulSC]

The Poulenc Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano is gold.

Ensemble Wien-Berlin/Levine on DG offers an excellent performance in spite of excessively reverberant acoustics.


The version on Naxos (complete chamber music, vol. 1) is also excellent, although I don't like how the repertoire is spread across a total of five discs. (Still, just about everything on vol. 1 is worth having.)

[escher]

the great alec wilder wrote interesting stuff for it (and the octets are amazing)

[Novi]

Some funky bassoon parts in Shostakovich too.

[jochanaan]

Hey, give the bassoonists a break!  They've got a terrifically hard instrument to play.  My main instrument, the oboe, is hard enough, but the bassoon is difficult!

That said, there's always the Mozart concerto.

What the bassoon has going for it is a wide range, almost as wide as that of a clarinet, much wider than that of the oboe or English horn; and a great variety of tone qualities.  And, like oboists, every bassoonist sounds pretty much different from every other.

I confess, though, that I'm not familiar with the contemporary bassoon repertoire...

[PaulSC]

And to answer a question upthread, the Berio Sequenza XII for bassoon is an original, not a transcription -- and a big piece at nearly 20 minutes.

The only other contemporary solo lit I have for the instrument is one of the Carter "Retracing" pieces. (These curious pieces are solos made by extracting/adapting one instrumental part of an ensemble piece. Carter has done a series of them recently; they'e pleasant but not essential listening.)

[Mirror Image]

There's a cool bassoon sequence in Villa-Lobos' Choros No. 10 right before it gets into that groove with the tympanist pounding away like some mad monkey and the chorus chanting away words in some made-up language.

[PaulSC]

Here's a disc full of things I've never heard:


Masahito Tanaka: The Magic Bassoon

Includes sonatas by Saint-Saens and by Hindemith, and a piece by Isang Yun that I've heard of...

[snyprrr]

And to answer a question upthread, the Berio Sequenza XII for bassoon is an original, not a transcription -- and a big piece at nearly 20 minutes.

The only other contemporary solo lit I have for the instrument is one of the Carter "Retracing" pieces. (These curious pieces are solos made by extracting/adapting one instrumental part of an ensemble piece. Carter has done a series of them recently; they'e pleasant but not essential listening.)

I found a few cds out there,... one, was it Gallios?,... had a Boulez Dialogue de la Ombre Double transcription, and Kurtag, and then some Kurtag hommages, oy! I'm sure there's the Stockhausen In Friendship (is that what James was alluding to?), the Scelsi Maknongan transcription, the...oy, it seems that quality lit is rare indeed! It appears Berio alone, and late at that, amongst the Great Generation, came to the bassoon.

What the bassoon has going for it is a wide range, almost as wide as that of a clarinet, much wider than that of the oboe or English horn; and a great variety of tone qualities.  And, like oboists, every bassoonist sounds pretty much different from every other.

I confess, though, that I'm not familiar with the contemporary bassoon repertoire...

From the clips I heard, the individual is the only thing, huh? One guy sounded like he wasn't digging in like the other guy. No clip I heard treated the bassoon in a Xenakean fashion,... perhaps a Triffid March, haha?? I think it bears my suspicion that the bassoon is meant for company, though, perhaps, there is a Great Funeral March out there for bassoon solo, I'm sure. I still don't know if I can hand it to the bassoon over the bass clarinet, or even the lower sax. I haven't heard a piece displaying all its possibilities.

I'm going to make the Wild Accusation that the 20th Century Knew Not What to Do With the Bassoon after Stravinsky.

All I have currently is one of several (and, there really are a few) bassoon recitals on the market (Japanese guy on Pavane) that begins with Pierne/Saint-Saens/Hindemith, and end with either Yun (Monolog,... there's your Berio-mate) or Bozza or Tansman. I like the Pierne and Saint-Saens, the Dutilleux is kinda eh, and then there are pieces by Gallon, Allard, and Gabaye that I bobblehead at.

I can tell you that I had a piece called Goat's Song by Yuri Kasparov, a trio of sorts, played by Popov, that was wonderful in its basses. I have been wanting to check out some Popov,... Russian bassoon just sounds like the way to go, no? brrrr...

[snyprrr]

Here's a disc full of things I've never heard:


Masahito Tanaka: The Magic Bassoon

Includes sonatas by Saint-Saens and by Hindemith, and a piece by Isang Yun that I've heard of...

haha,... see my answer to yer last post,... must be in the air, haha...

[PaulSC]

Jinx!

[Josquin des Prez]

[Dax]

Here's an introduction to the contrabassoon with support from trombones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhin6WdFwAE

and for a bit of microtonal bassoonage, try this version of Wyschnegradsky's Meditation on two themes from "The day of existence". On the debit side, it doesn't  particularly recommend the combination of bassoon and piano as a joyful noise.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/dx0fbn

[snyprrr]

I think jimmosk mentioned a contrabassoon concerto by Daniel Erb that promised to be something.

[listener]

might be of interest
ASV CD DCA 535 English Music.... HURLSTONE, ELGAR, JACOB, VAUGHAN WILLAMS, DUNHILL  (all 20th century) + Arne and Avison
and the collection on AMON RA CD-SAR 35 - works by Fasch, Bertoli, Speer, Boismortier, Devienne, Mozart, Elgar & Schubert
and there's Vivaldi RV466 to 504 -  39 Concertos!  and the solo in Ravel's Mother Goose Suite (the Bête theme) that sounds an awful lot like the source for Lloyd-Webber's Phantom theme.

[Gurn Blanston]

I am the Bassoon
by Gurn Blanston

I am the bassoon, I stand straight and tall.
My voice is from the greatest deep
The bass line is what I keep
From straying off the chosen beat
Without me they will doubtless fall,
I am the bassoon.

I am the bassoon, I have been here all the while.
When viols and lutes carried the tune
They did it on top of the bassoon.
When oboes were still called shawm
When flutes were made of hollow sticks
When it was chitarra that played hot licks
I was there, I am the bassoon.

I am the bassoon, I can be a clown.
I can bark and fart and belch in time
With all the others on the melody line
I carry the basses, cellos and brass
No one can replace me so kiss my ass.
I am the bassoon. Blow me.

[karlhenning]

I am the Bassoon
by Gurn Blanston

I am the bassoon, I stand straight and tall.
My voice is from the greatest deep
The bass line is what I keep
From straying off the chosen beat
Without me they will doubtless fall,
I am the bassoon.

I am the bassoon, I have been here all the while.
When viols and lutes carried the tune
They did it on top of the bassoon.
When oboes were still called shawm
When flutes were made of hollow sticks
When it was chitarra that played hot licks
I was there, I am the bassoon.

I am the bassoon, I can be a clown.
I can bark and fart and belch in time
With all the others on the melody line
I carry the basses, cellos and brass
No one can replace me so kiss my ass.
I am the bassoon. Blow me.

I'm going to blog that puppy (with attribution, natch)!

[springrite]

I am the Bassoon
by Gurn Blanston

I am the bassoon, I stand straight and tall.
My voice is from the greatest deep
The bass line is what I keep
From straying off the chosen beat
Without me they will doubtless fall,
I am the bassoon.

I am the bassoon, I have been here all the while.
When viols and lutes carried the tune
They did it on top of the bassoon.
When oboes were still called shawm
When flutes were made of hollow sticks
When it was chitarra that played hot licks
I was there, I am the bassoon.

I am the bassoon, I can be a clown.
I can bark and fart and belch in time
With all the others on the melody line
I carry the basses, cellos and brass
No one can replace me so kiss my ass.
I am the bassoon. Blow me.

As a girl once said to me many many years ago (during my college years): "That was one heck of a long long set up for the one line you meant to communicate!"

[Gurn Blanston]

As a girl once said to me many many years ago (during my college years): "That was one heck of a long long set up for the one line you meant to communicate!"

  Of course, that's totally true of ALL great literature. In fact, the longer and more roundabout, the greater the odds of success. The shortest, easiest thing would have been to say "Bassoons blow". But it wouldn't have had the same impact.



PS - FWIW, the bassoon has long been on my Top 5 favorite instruments list.  0:)

[Cato]

Is that picture from one of Stockhausen's LICHT operas?    0:)