During the course of
the eighteenth century concertos for
the bassoon were written more frequently
– without ever becoming an entirely
common occurrence, even if Vivaldi wrote
almost forty concertos for the instrument!
There are later concertos by, amongst
others, J.C. Bach, Stamitz, Johann Christoph
Vogel, Hummel and, of course, Mozart.
Danzi, just four years older than Mozart,
was later to count Weber amongst his
friends, and there is a sense in which,
musically speaking, he belongs between
the two of them. Certainly in listening
to the two concertos here one is likely
to think of Weber’s Bassoon Concerto
in F (Opus 75) at least as much as of
Mozart. Himself a cellist by training
- his Italian father played cello in
the orchestra at Mannheim – Danzi wrote
in most musical genres, though his music
for woodwinds is perhaps most familiar.
He seems to write with particular sympathy
and understanding for the bassoon –
he composed bassoon quartets as well
as concertos for the instrument, and
in his Wind Quintets he gives the bassoon
more prominence than many composers
are prone to do. Both of the concertos
here employ the conventional three movement
structure of fast-slow-fast; the first
– though I can’t claim to be familiar
with the numbering of Danzi’s works
I seem to remember encountering this
concerto numbered otherwise – closes
with variations on an Austrian song
of which Weber also made use in his
Variations for Viola and Orchestra.
The second concerto ends with a demanding
Polacca - played with assurance by John
Heard.
Born in Bohemia of
a family in serfdom, Vanhal had to buy
his freedom – which he did with money
earned from composing – and later established
himself very successfully in Vienna
as composer and teacher. He wrote at
least one concerto for single bassoon
and one – played here – for two bassoons.
Orchestras of the classical period increasingly
employed two bassoons, so it was not
unnatural that composers should occasionally
write a concerto for both instrumentalists.
Vanhal’s is one such, in the playing
of which John Heard is joined by Taras
Osadchiy, principal bassoon of the National
Symphony of Kiev. Vanhal writes some
attractive imitative passages for the
two soloists, not least in the central
andante grazioso where the voices of
the two bassoons interweave elegantly
amidst musical comments from the strings.
Unfortunately, I have to report that
my review copy had a pressing fault
on this track; on some players it produced
a loud click, on others a complete standstill.
A great shame and not, I trust a fault
to be found on all copies of the CD.
In other respects the recording is fine,
with a natural balance and pleasing
clarity.
Without being in any
way spectacular, and without drawing
inappropriate attention to itself, the
playing of John Heard (and of Osadchiy)
is fine, technically highly competent
and with a good sense of style. Camerata
Kiev are obviously a an expert chamber
orchestra, well marshalled by Alexander
Ostrowski. It is, though, a shame that
the programme should be made up of three
concertos all in the same key.
In an eighteenth-century
book of travels which I have recently
been reading - Ideas, suggested on
the spot in a late excursion through
Flanders, Germany, France and Italy
(1790) - Adam Walker reports on the
experience of attending a concert in
the Louvre. Having praised some clarinet
music, he writes "A duet was performed
between this charming instrument and
a grunting bassoon – or rather two solos,
to show off the performance on each
instrument. The clarinet was wonderfully
played, and the piece admirably adapted
for it. But the bassoon part, though
well performed, was something like an
elephant trying to dance a hornpipe
– certainly that unwieldy toned, dull
hedge-stake, was never designed to display
rapidity of execution?" Such were
– and to a lesser extent perhaps still
are – the prejudices with which the
bassoon had to contend at the time that
these concertos were written. I would
like to think that if Mr. Walker had
heard the performances on this CD he
would have been persuaded that the bassoon
is rather more than a "dull hedge-stake"
and that "rapidity of execution"
on the instrument can serve thoroughly
musical ends.
Glyn Pursglove
John Heard (bassoon), Taras Osadchiy (bassoon)*
for
details
