Breezy Bassoon Treats
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Bassoons rule in this evening’s second hour, proving that these low-voiced winds can be as winning as more-frequently featured solo instruments. So stay tuned for bassoon!
Works by Brahms, Bach, and Scarlatti (and the ever-popular More) are prelude to the promised breezy basso treats.
Alec Wilder’s Bassoon Sonata No. 2, played for us this even by Richard Lottridge, was commissioned by the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. Wilder said that he felt good popular songs should have “intensity, unexpectedness, originality, sinuosity of phrase, clarity, naturalness, control, unclutteredness, sophistication, and honest sentiment.” As you will hear, his own music lives up to those standards.
Bassoonist Michael Sweeney commissioned the work which Marjan Mozetich titled Concerto for Bassoon and Strings with Marimba. Sweeney says the marimba acts much like the harpsichord continuo in a Vivaldi concerto, providing color and forward propulsion to the string ensemble, which backs the often florid and virtuosic bassoon’s voice. This delightful work will make you long for more bassoon music, and more Mozetich as well!
Works by Brahms, Bach, and Scarlatti (and the ever-popular More) are prelude to the promised breezy basso treats.
Alec Wilder’s Bassoon Sonata No. 2, played for us this even by Richard Lottridge, was commissioned by the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. Wilder said that he felt good popular songs should have “intensity, unexpectedness, originality, sinuosity of phrase, clarity, naturalness, control, unclutteredness, sophistication, and honest sentiment.” As you will hear, his own music lives up to those standards.
Bassoonist Michael Sweeney commissioned the work which Marjan Mozetich titled Concerto for Bassoon and Strings with Marimba. Sweeney says the marimba acts much like the harpsichord continuo in a Vivaldi concerto, providing color and forward propulsion to the string ensemble, which backs the often florid and virtuosic bassoon’s voice. This delightful work will make you long for more bassoon music, and more Mozetich as well!
