3 Elegies pour Basson et Piano (1988)
by Emile Naoumoff
5 Miniaturen für Fagott und Klavier
(1985) by Otto Schneider (b. 1912)
Scherzo Capriccioso (1986) für Fagott
und Klavier by Alfred Uhl
Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra, Op.
75 by Carl Maria Von Weber
3 Elegies pour Basson et Piano
(1988)
Emile Naoumoff (b. 1962)
arranged for Bassoon by Catherine Marchese
Publisher: Schott Fagott-Bibliothek (Bassoon Library) FAG21
This arrangement is a welcome addition to the repertoire. All three movements lay well on the bassoon, making full use of our instrument's expressive capabilities. The work's simplicity makes it appropriate for younger students (though the highest note is a high c#). Its emotionally charged lyricism makes it challenging and rewarding for the professional as well.
5 Miniaturen für Fagott und Klavier (1985) Otto Schneider (b. 1912)
Publisher: Schott Fagott-Bibliothek (Bassoon Library) FAG20
Otto Schneider's 5 Miniaturen leaves a very different impression on the listener and player than the Naoumoff. Schneider was born in Vienna in 1912. Though composed in 1985, the piece reflects the serialist music coming out of Vienna around the time of Schneider's youth combined with a Hindemith-like piano accompaniment of block chords and many perfect intervals. The result is music which is not as dry as my description of influences may imply. Rather the flowing lines in the slow movements (even when made up of retrograde inversions and other textbook serialist compositional devices) and the free tonality of each movement combine to create interest. 5 Miniaturen is dedicated to Milan Turkovic.
Scherzo Capriccioso (1986) für
Fagott und Klavier
Alfred Uhl (1909)
Publisher: Doblinger
Alfred Uhl, another Viennese composer wrote his Scherzo in 1986. This short piece (about 4 minutes long) makes use of the association of motives with different tempos. Each new motive or theme is initiated by a slight change in tempo. These subtle tempo changes (generally differing by only one or two metronome markings) coincide with the beginning of the different motives, which seem to stem from a germ motive in the very first two bars. The bassoon and piano share equally in the thematic material. One lyrical passage notwithstanding, the concise nature of the motives, their rhythmic vitality, and the precise metronome markings give the piece the qualities of a well-oiled, tightly wound clock.
Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra,
Op. 75
Carl Maria Von Weber
Publisher: Universal Bassoon Edition
This new edition of the Weber is a welcome sight! Congratulations are in order to William Waterhouse for his scholarly research of both the fair copy of 1811 and Weber's autograph of 1811/1822. Mr. Waterhouse has also arranged his own piano accompaniment which he says "is designed for sight-reading rather than concert performance." His instinct should prove correct here for how many times have we had to suffer quietly while the dutiful accompanist attempts to play every note of other reductions. The wise accompanist may use Mr. Waterhouse's arrangement as a foundation, adding what he or she can from the orchestral score to create the illusion of the piano as orchestra. When no such accompanist is available, most of us already have another reduction that can be used. The bassoon part is simply the Urtext edition which (like UBE's Mozart Concerto) leaves much freedom for the performer's own ideas regarding articulation. I eagerly await more new editions of bassoon music from Messrs, Waterhouse, Turkovic and Joppig.
Barrick R. Stees was recently appointed Assistant Professor
of Bassoon at Michigan State University. He is also Woodwind Chamber
Music Coordinator and has formed the Michigan State University
Bassoon Choir. Stees is Principal Bassoonist with the Lansing
Symphony as well. He joined the MSU School of Music faculty this
Fall after serving four years as Principal Bassoonist with the
Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Stees is a graduate of the Eastman
School of Music where he was a student of K. David van Hoesen.