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German composer Paul Hindemith wrote more than forty sonatas. In addition to at least one sonata for each standard orchestral woodwind, brass, and string instrument, he wrote for a number of less-common solo instruments, including the English horn, the viola d’amore, and the althorn. Although he was primarily a viola player, Hindemith owned and could play many of the instruments for which he wrote; he apparently had a particular interest in the bassoon. An entry in the Heckel visitor’s log indicates that Hindemith purchased a bassoon from the firm on October 9, 1927. Hindemith wrote his Sonate for bassoon in […]
Auguste Mesnard was born November 17, 1875 in Cognac, France. He began his musical career as a violinist, studying at the Ecole Nationale de Musique d’Angoulème, and earning a first prize from there in 1891. After an unsuccessful audition to enter the Paris Conservatoire, one of his musical colleagues in Angoulème suggested that he take up the bassoon instead. He evidently took to the instrument right away, as he managed to gain entry to Eugène Bourdeau’s bassoon class at the Paris Conservatoire only two years later (November 1893). He won a first prize there in 1897, and went on to bassoon […]
I’ve written previously about the three earliest recordings of Carl Maria von Weber’s Andante and Hungarian Rondo — two featuring German-American bassoonist William Gruner (1920 and 1926), and one with French bassoonist Fernand Oubradous (1938). As a number of people pointed out, I left out another early recording by Eli Carmen from the late 40s. I didn’t have a copy at the time, but I’ve managed to get my hands on one now. This one’s a bit of an oddball: it’s only the Rondo, it was recorded for a children’s record label, and it was released on a vinyl 78rpm […]
I have long intended to write more here about specific jazz recordings that include bassoon. I have many favorites spanning basically the whole history of jazz, which I’ll get to eventually. But I’ve decided to start with a recent album from a band that’s new to me. Last month I received a copy of The Bright and Rushing World by Douglas Detrick’s AnyWhen Ensemble (thanks, Dad!). This, the group’s third album, was recorded in 2012 and released in March of this year. I’ve been listening to the disc on and off over the past few weeks, and I quite enjoy it. […]
The vast majority of people who have recorded bassoon in jazz contexts have been doublers who primarily play saxophone, such as Illinois Jacquet, Frankie Trumbauer, and Ben Wendel. A very small number of players (Paul Hanson and Michael Rabinowitz are the best known) truly specialize in playing jazz on the bassoon. But there is a third category as well: orchestral bassoonists who have occasionally ventured into jazz contexts. In 1935, Sol Schoenbach recorded four tunes by British jazz pianist Reginald Foresythe in a small group that also included Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. Kenneth Pasmanick, longtime principal bassoonist of […]
Most of the early recordings that feature the bassoon did so in a comical fashion. A handful of artists recorded Quentin Ashlyn’s song “The Bassoon” in the first decades of the 20th century, and I have in my collection a couple of very strange (at least to modern ears) “laughing records” from the same era that include the bassoon. In 1911, Carl Borgwald recorded Julius Fučík’s classic “Der Alte Brummbär” in 1911 (released as “Polka Fantastique” in the U.S.). And in 1918, Edison released two somewhat silly piccolo/bassoon duets: “The Elephant and The Fly” and “The Nightingale and the Frog”, […]
In my ongoing quest to find bassoons in unexpected places, I’ve uncovered a new gem. The Mo (or sometimes simply “Mo”) was a Dutch New Wave band formed in 1979 by brothers Clemens and Huub de Lange. The band had a couple of incarnations, but its initial lineup included singer Heili Helder, drummer Harm Bieger, Clemens de Lange on keyboards, and Huub de Lange on key boards and—you guessed it—bassoon. Huub de Lange appears to be known mostly as a choral composer now; here’s his ChoralWiki page. I wrote to him asking some questions about the band, but got no […]
My main area of research in the past few years has been the use of the bassoon in jazz; in fact, I wrote my dissertation on the subject. But I’ve thus far neglected writing about it here, mostly because there’s too much information to condense into a single blog post! I’ll get around to writing a historical overview at some point, but for now, suffice it to say that there have been hundreds of jazz recordings (close to a thousand, actually) that include bassoonists in various roles, dating back to at least the early 1920s. Today, as a starting point, I’m […]
I keep a variety of online feelers out for bassoon-related things. Much of what comes back to me is spam or otherwise uninteresting. But, I do find out about articles and concerts that I might not otherwise. My favorite sort of discoveries, though, are of obscure and often long-forgotten bits of bassoon miscellany. That’s exactly what I came across a couple of weeks ago in the record whose cover you see below. It’s a 7‑inch 45 rpm single by the Novelty Disco Band, recorded and pressed in France in 1977. After finding mention of it online, I bought a copy […]
A couple of days ago, I received Nadina Mackie Jackson’s new CD, Twenty Four Solos by Jean-Daniel Braun in the mail. I had been eagerly awaiting the disc since its release at the end of October. Of course I wanted to hear Nadina’s recording (which is wonderful!), but my enthusiasm was also partly selfish; I wrote the album’s liner notes. This came about a bit by chance. Nadina put out a call on Facebook for help with liner notes, and I happened to see and respond to it in pretty short order. So thanks to her for giving me my first […]