Bassoonists perform at recitals and give master classes

Baltimore Symphony bassoonist, Phil Kolker, has been active recently with the Baltimore Wind Quintet (with oboist Joseph Turner). On February 19th they performed at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and then repeated the program at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. on February 24th and at Merkin Hall in New York on the 26th. The program included the lesser known Quintet for Winds (1978) by John Harbison.

Phil also writes that bassoonists Sol Schoenbach and Mordechai Rechtman have recently given master classes at the Peabody Conservatory in what is hoped will become a regular series.

Bassoonist David DeBolt performed a faculty recital at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, where he is a faculty member, on April 8, 1985. Interesting works on the program included the Divertimento for Flute, Bassoon, and Harp (1978) by Walter Watson, and the Quartet (1950) by Bernard Garfield. (David's recent recording is reviewed elsewhere in this issue.)

Bassoonist Georgia Peeples (and oboist James Ryon) recently performed with L'ETOILE, the woodwind quintet in residence at the University of Akron, in a Florida tour from January 15-18, 1985. Interesting works on the program included the H. Fuvosotos by Endre Szervansky, and Three Preludes by George Gershwin, transcribed by William Hoyt.

American premiere of Skalkottas work performed at SUNY, Stony Brook

Bassoonist Lawrence Tilson recently performed the American premiere of the Sonata Concertante for bassoon and piano by Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949) on April 11, 1985, as part of his doctoral recital at State University of New York at Stony Brook. The pianist was John Mugge. Also on the program was the Phenix Concerto by Corrette, performed with bassoon and three cellos, the Telemann Tapfelmusik Quartet in D minor, and the Mozart Concerto with orchestral accompaniment. Mr. Tilson, who was one of the finalists in this year's I.D.R.S. Gillet Competition in Boulder, wrote the following information about the Skalkottas work:

Skalkottas is just now starting to be recognized. Born in Greece, he was a child prodigy on the violin. He studied in Berlin from 1921 to 1933, turning to composition studies with Schoenberg, who thought very highly of him. With the rise of Nazism, he returned to Greece, where he spent the rest of his short life in total obscurity, being completely ignored by the musical establishment. At his death he left over 170 works, almost all of which were not performed or published until recently.

Many of these works were composed on an enormous scale, including the Sonata Concertante, written in 1943. It is part of a cycle of pieces meant to form a self-contained concert for oboe, trumpet, bassoon and piano. The concert consists of the following:

Quartet
Concertino for oboe and piano
Sonata Concertante for bassoon and piano
Concertino for trumpet and piano
Quartet (Tango and Fox-Trot)

Although he also used serial methods of composition, these works are among those that Skalkottas wrote in his non-serial, atonal style.

The Sonata Concertante is in three movements, and is approximately thirty minutes long. The first movement, Allegro molto vivace, is a huge sonata form, with a dramatic, lyrical first theme and a sarcastic second theme. The extended development of these ideas provides very challenging technical work for the bassoon. The recapitulation transposes much of the material into different registers, and the coda provides a very exciting finish. The second movement, Andantino, is equally gigantic in scale. Its extended arch form contains music of dark intensity, reaching several shattering climaxes before subsiding. The third movement, Presto, is a distinct contrast to the seriousness of the other two movements. It is a brief sonata-form with three themes, all of which have a folk-like quality. The third theme is actually based on a Greek New Year's carol. Between the wild intensity and humor of the exposition and the recapitulation and coda, the unconventional development is the emotional core of the movement. Building from a calm start, it reaches an intense climax of hammered chords on the piano, and then relaxes into one of the most striking passages in the piece, a page of strange beauty whose fluttering music is slightly reminiscent of Bartok's "night music."

Throughout this work, Skalkottas uses a characteristically dense harmonic style, often building chords on the interval of a fourth. The result is that although this is definitely atonal music, there are many strong references to pitch centers. The texture is extremely thick and polyphonic. The piano part is of extreme difficulty - some sections are nearly impossible and would seem to require the possession of an extra hand. The bassoon writing demands a high degree of endurance, as the thirty minutes of performance time contains perhaps two to three minutes of rest. The technical difficulties are great but certainly not beyond reach. A real problem is balance; the piano writing is so heavy that the bassoon can easily be obliterated. Over all, this is a work of high drama, intense lyricism, ironic humor and dark emotions, with plenty of virtuoso writing and a real feel for the singing qualities of the bassoon in the melodic writing.

The Sonata Concertante was premiered in Athens in 1954 with Professor Ivan Tursic, bassoon and John G. Papaiouannou, piano. It was played by William Waterhouse and George Hadjinikos in England over the BBC in 1962. As far as I know, it has not been played in the USA until now. It was just recently published by Margun Music of Newton Center, Massachusetts. Margun, under Gunther Schuller's direction, is in the process of publishing all of Skalkottas' music. The Sonata Concertante is a real find for the bassoonist; it is a serious work of major proportions, exploring the full expressive and technical range of the bassoon, and should become a part of every bassoonist's repertoire.

I would appreciate any feedback about other performances that may have taken place of this work. I have checked with the publisher, and none in the USA are known to us.

University of Oklahoma's Carl Rath discloses recent bassoon activities

Bassoonist Carl Rath, who is on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma, has written recently of his varied musical activities:

1 . On March 4, 1985, the Oklahoma Woodwind Quintet made its New York debut in Carnegie Hall. The Quintet is made up of full-time members of the faculty at the University of Oklahoma. The program was the Quintett, Op. 91, No. 3 by Anton Reicha; Gyorgy Ligeti Sechs Bagatellen; Nielsen Quintet, Op. 43; and a work commissioned by the Oklahoma Woodwind Quintet composed by Michael Hennagin (composer in residence at the University of Oklahoma) entitled Songs of Man. According to Tim Page, who reviewed the concert for the New York Times, the group played "...with energy and an easy camaraderie... it was a pleasure to listen to these players circulate musical phrases among themselves, embellish them lovingly and pass them on."

2. In March, 1985, 1 was invited to participate in the live rounds of the 34th Annual Concert Artists International Competition in New York. Open to all instrumentalists and vocalists and chamber ensembles who have not made a formal New York solo debut, I was selected from more than 430 tapes to participate along with approximately 85 others. I was the only bassoonist in the competition. Unfortunately, I didn't make it past the first round, but the experience was very beneficial and helped me to develop some new techniques in practicing and memorization. My program for the competition was: Telemann, Sonata in F minor; Saint-Saens, Sonate, Op. 168; Osborne, Rhapsody; Eder, Sonata; and the Weber Hungarian Fantasy and Rondo. I performed all but the Weber in a recital at the University of Oklahoma on April 20, 1985. The complete program was memorized and my first complete recital standing up.

3. On May 19th, I played the Jerry Neil Smith Ritual and Dance for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble with the Owasso, Oklahoma High School Band. This piece was written for me in 1982.

P.S. Thought you might enjoy our amusing name for the bassoon ensemble at the University of Oklahoma - the Sooner Bassooners!

Bassoonist Lyman becomes 'teddy bear' for Karlheinz Stockhausen work

Jeffrey Lyman, principal bassoon of the Savannah Georgia Symphony, performed the solo bassoon version of Karlheinz Stockhausen's In Freundschaft in several different venues this spring. The first was on Monday, February 25, 1985, at the First Presbyterian Church, Savannah, with Mr. Lyman employing his own choreography, as implied in the score. The second performance, in early April, was for a class of bassoon students of William Davis at the University of Georgia in Athens. Lastly, as part of the Savannah College of Art and Design's Sidewalk Arts Festival, Mr. Lyman performed the piece as Stockhausen envisioned it - that is, with the performer dressed as a teddy bear. (The program notes printed in the score include a paragraph describing the composer's idea of a large teddy bear, like one he had as a child, playing the bassoon and performing his piece. The paragraph unfortunately appears only in the French and German translations of the notes.)

Along with Mr. Lyman's choreography for himself, new choreography for two dancers was provided by Winifred Widener, and danced by Judean Drescher and Richard Ellington. The teddy bear costume was created by Karen McVay and Martha Enzman.

Lee performs World Premiere

Bassoonist Rox Lee of Madison, Wisconsin, recently performed the World Premiere of the Variations on a Medieval Hymn for Orchestra with Bassoon Principal by Max Yount with performances at Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin, on November 19 and 20, 1984, with the Beloit-Janesville Symphony Orchestra conducted by Crawford Gates. In reviewing the concert, music critic, Ted Kinnaman described the work and Mr. Lee's performance in the following manner:

Yount's style is generally "modern," which is to say he utilizes dissonant harmonies and counterpoint. But the most unique aspects of the variations were the daring and varied textures that he cultivated throughout the piece. The soloist's role in the unfolding variations was constantly shifting; at times a real soloist, at others a member of an ensemble, at still others performing a commentary on what was going on in the orchestra. In every instance, Rox Lee's playing was exemplary. He demonstrated excellent control of an instrument notoriously erratic, at the same time executing with great skill the rhythmic and tonal subtleties of this complex score.

The composer, Max Yount, provided the following information in the program:

Variations on a Medieval Hymn, composed in March-May 1984, is based on the hymn tune Jesus dulcis memoria (No. 144 in Worship II, A Hymnal for Roman Catholic Parishes). This hymn dates from the Middle Ages and is also the basis for an organ piece of mine, composed in 1965 and slightly expanded in 1983. It was while working on the organ piece in 1983 that the inspiration suddenly came to me to use the hymn tune Jesu dulcis memoria as the basis for a set of orchestral variations.

A few months later, the idea was still turning in my mind when Rox Lee asked me if I would compose a piece for bassoon and orchestra for his performance in November 1984 with the BeloitJanesville Symphony Orchestra. Of course, I was eager to do so, and decided to adapt and modify my orchestral idea into a format which would include the bassoon as soloist.

Since the bassoon has always been one of my favorite instruments, this slight change of direction from the original idea proved no hardship. I soon found myself feasting on "bassoonism." The eventual choice of the words bassoon principale instead of bassoon soloist in the title of the work grew from the many roles in which I cast the bassoon as the variations unfold: as soloist with accompaniment, as soloist in dialogue with the entire brass section, as traditional member of the woodwind ensemble, as partner with the second bassoon (a traditional pairing), as soloist in dialogue with other solo instruments, as member of several unusual combinations, and even in the traditional role of doubling the lines of the lower stringed instruments. One result of this bassoon feast is that the part for the second bassoon is a large one, with the instrument often coming to the fore as the bassoon sound is exploited.

Variations on a Medieval Hymn is very traditional in its concept; two composers who came to mind as models are the 17th-century German, Samuel Scheidt, and the 20th-century German, Paul Hindemith. Both were masters of traditional variation techniques and devices such as fugue, cannon and cantus firmus - all forms of counterpoint (the simultaneous combination of contrasting melodies.) My piece is in these contrapuntal devices. At times, the harmonies which result as melodic lines weave around the hymn melody have a medieval and early Renaissance flavor.

After a quiet introduction in which the bassoon principal plays the hymn tune in a free, chant-like fashion over a softly sustained chord in the strings, twenty-three variations flow into each other without pause. The intensity of the variations mounts to a climactic section, after which the quiet introduction returns, and the work ends calmly.

Rox writes that he also had an opportunity to perform the work again last summer at the Popkin/Glickman Bassoon Camp.

Garfield & Gigliotti Perform duet in Philadelphia Orchestra concert series

Bassoonist Bernard Garfield and clarinettist, Anthony Gigliotti performed the DuetConcertino for clarinet, bassoon, harp, and string orchestra by Richard Strauss in a series of concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti conducting, on May 9, 10, and 11, 1985. Bernard Jacobson's program notes for these performances provided some interesting insights into the history of the creation of this work late in Strauss' life. They are reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.

During his last visit to London at the age of 83, journalists better endowed with conscientiousness than imagination asked Strauss about his future plans. With deceptive blandness, the composer replied: "Well, to die!" Fortunately that was not quite all he had in mind. The following year, 1948, was to see the composition and orchestration of what we now know as the Four Last Songs. And a little earlier, just after returning home from England, he took some recent sketches and worked them up into this Duet-Concertino, which was finished in short score on November 29, 1947, and orchestrated by December 16.

The last of his purely instrumental works, the Duet-Concertino completed an extraordinary late flowering of such compositions beginning with the Second Horn Concerto of 1942 (59 years after the First Horn Concerto!). Apart from some lesser things, the sequence embraces two sonatinas for winds, Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings, and the masterly Oboe Concerto written in 1945 for John De Lancie, later to be The Philadelphia Orchestra's principal oboist.

Nothing could be further removed from the grandiloquent style of Also sprach Zarathustra, heard at these concerts in January, than the transparency and understated delicacy of these pieces. Michael Kennedy, in his article on the composer in The New Grove Dictionary, suggests that "The twin influences on Strauss' work were Wagner and Mozart, and his output could almost be divided into Wagner works and Mozart works." From this viewpoint, the last few years of Strauss' life undoubtedly constitute a Mozart period; in fact the score of the second wind sonatina (now known as the Symphony for Winds) carries a dedication "to the spirit of the immortal Mozart at the end of a life full of thankfulness. " This devotion to the man Strauss considered the greatest of all composers was indeed a lifelong feeling. It can be traced back to the early influence of his father, Franz Joseph Strauss, himself a composer, and principal horn player in the Munich Court Orchestra for 49 years. And when Richard Strauss was sketching the Duet-Concertino in October 1946, he wrote to its dedicatee, Hugo Burghauser, the former Vienna Philharmonic bassoonist who had immigrated to New York: "My father always used to say 'It was Mozart that wrote most beautifully for the bassoon.' But then he was also the one to have all the most beautiful thoughts, coming straight down from the skies!"

When a musician as adept as Strauss at opera and other vocal forms turns to instrumental composition, it is tempting to look for operatic parallels in the purely instrumental music. And the choice of solo instruments in the DuetConcertino, pairing the soprano and baritone registers of the woodwind family, particularly suggests that we might find in this music a flavor of Arabella, with its great duets for those two voices. The slow movement of the Second Horn Concerto had already offered echoes of the exalted, "in love with love itself" tone of that opera and its spiritual ancestor Der Rosenkavalier. Yet, as it happens, it is rather Ariadne auf Naxos and Capriccio that are evoked in both the textures and the melodic lines of the Duet -Concertino.

Partly this is a matter of scoring. The accompaniment here is divided, rather in the manner of the baroque concertino and concerto grosso, into solo and tutti strings, and the serene introductory sextet passage for two violins, two violas, cello, and bass inevitably brings the almost identically scored opening of Capriccio to mind. The refinement of the orchestral writing throughout, moreover, puts the work closer to the chamberorchestra conception of Ariadne than to the more opulent forces of other Strauss operas. This effect is heightened with the delayed entry of the harp, which reinterprets the continuo convention to provide yet another beguiling contrast of tone somewhere between baroque harpsichord and classical horns in both timbre and function. But the melodic style of the Duet -Concertino, too, has a touch of irony that separates it from outright romanticism. The piece has mellow beauty in abundance, but also something of the wit of Ariadne's harlequinade and of Capriccio's conversational urbanity.

A programmatic element in the genesis of the Duet-Concertino may have led the music in this dialectical direction. Strauss told the conductor Clemens Krauss that some of' the dialogue between the two soloists had a connection with Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Swineherd," where a princess - beautiful, of course - is courted by a prince disguised as a swineherd. (No prizes are offered for guessing which of the solo instruments represented which of the two characters.) A slightly different story appears in another letter from Strauss to his bassoonist, according to which, as Norman Del Mar recounts in his threevolume study of the composer, "a dancing princess was to be alarmed by the grotesque cavortings by a bear in imitation of her. At last she is won over by the creature and dances with it, upon which it turns into a prince. 'So in the end' he wrote to Burghauser, 'you too will turn into a prince and all live happily ever after.' "

Unlike the tone poems that Strauss was composing half a century earlier, the Duet-Concertino eschews detailed illustration of specific plot points. It's true that the clarinet's affrighted response to the first entry of the bassoon can be related to the alarm of the dancing princess. The story, moreover, may well have suggested the curious overall shape of the work's three interlinked movements: a fragmentary opening Allegro moderato and an even shorter central Andante (perhaps evocative of the bear's wooing) are dwarfed by a spacious Allegro ma non troppo rondo, marked to begin "a little hesitantly," where clarinet and bassoon for the first time dance together in chains of mellifluous thirds. But whereas Till Eulenspiegel, for instance, loses something of its effect for a listener ignorant of "what is happening," the Duet-Concertino can be enjoyed to the full on the basis of its inherent musical qualities alone. In particular, Strauss ensured the unity of the form through strong though unobtrusive thematic links, making the opening of the work the basis,both right way up and upside down, for his rondo subject:

The firmly-based structure thus erected is fully capable of maintaining its cohesion through the striking passages of cross-rhythm that surface in the course of the rondo. 4/4 measures in the clarinet and bassoon parts and 2/4 in the harp and tutti strings are pitted against the continuing 6/8 of five solo strings, but the clarity of the musical discourse is never for a moment obscured.

The Duet-Concertino was given its first performance on April 4, 1948, in Lugano by the Orchestra of the Italian-Swiss Radio, conducted by Otmar Nussio. In the only previous performance of the work by The Philadelphia Orchestra, given in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1963 with William Smith conducting, the soloists, as in these performances, were Anthony Gigliotti and Bernard Garfield.

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