The Bogeyman

Spilotros, Roberto; Coco, Massimo; Boschi, Adriana; Lagomarsino, Marino; Pisani, Alessio; Pisani, Alberto; Barigione, Maurizio

“It is to the bassoon what the double-bass is to the cello: meaning that its sound is an octave lower than the written note. […] It is pointless to add that this instrument, which is extremely heavy, is suited only to great effects of harmony and to the bass parts in a moderate tempo movement.” Thus Hector Berlioz on the contrabass bassoon in his “Great Treatise On Instrumentation and Orchestration” (1843) in which he defended the timbre and function of the instrument but saw no use for it beyond simply filling out the sound in large wind ensembles. Much has changed since that time and the contrabass bassoon had certainly come of age by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was used in such major works as Don Carlos by Verdi (1867), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas (1897), Salome by Strauss (1905), and others. The seven works on the present recording are a splendid demonstration of how greatly the 20th century expanded the resources of the contrabass bassoon. They all show the versatility of this instrument in widely differing contexts and roles and prove that the contrabass bassoon has an unexpected range of sounds and expressive capabilities.

Price: $20.98

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