The Proud Bassoon

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Johann Friedrich Fasch, Georg Philipp Telemann, Matthew Dubourg, François Couperin, Anonymous, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Linn

Media Format: Super Audio CD

Media Runtime: 60

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: CKD435

CKD435. The Proud Bassoon

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Les Gentils Airs - Ou Airs Connus, Ajustée en duo Anonymous, Composer
Anonymous, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
(6) Sonatas for Two Cellos/Bassoons/Viols, Movement: No. 2 in G Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Composer
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo Johann Friedrich Fasch, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
Johann Friedrich Fasch, Composer
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
(Les) Goûts-réünis, ou Nouveaux concerts, Movement: XIII Concert François Couperin, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
François Couperin, Composer
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
Sonata Georg Philipp Telemann, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
Georg Philipp Telemann, Composer
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
(6) Sonatas for Two Cellos/Bassoons/Viols, Movement: No. 1 in E minor Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Composer
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
Eileen Aroon with variations set by Mr. Dubourg Matthew Dubourg, Composer
Ensemble Marsyas
Matthew Dubourg, Composer
Peter Whelan, Bassoon
Peter Whelan is striving zealously to explode the preconceptions the bassoon is subjected to. This programme of 18th-century music – almost all of it French and German – demonstrates the bassoon’s capabilities to conjure a variety of colours and moods that any serious-minded artist can be proud of. Indeed, it was the early-18th-century theorist and composer Johann Mattheson who described the bassoon as a ‘proud’ instrument, and Whelan’s evangelical booklet essay compares its expressive potential to the heroic haute-contre voice of French Baroque opera.

One imagines Rameau wouldn’t have needed much persuading about this, and two arrangements by him are among the set of popular opera arias that launch this beguiling and kaleidoscopic survey. My jaw dropped at the dexterous virtuosity of Whelan’s playing at the conclusion of ‘Les Sauvages’. The beautifully melodic opening Largo of Boismortier’s Sonata (No 2) in G major provides a significant change of pace and mood; the concluding Giga is fantastic fun. Sonatas by Fasch and Telemann vie for the status of the first known bassoon sonata but more importantly they each show the juxtaposition between ardent singing qualities and flexible brilliance in Whelan’s playing. Accompaniment is delightfully varied from harpsichordist Philippe Grisvard, theorbist Thomas Dunford and cellist Sarah McMahon, whose duets with Whelan in the Treizième Concert from Couperin’s Les goûts-réunis are transfixing. Baroque chamber music showcasing solo bassoon might not sound like an obvious winner but in the event it’s a triumph.

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