Bassoon Concertos (Music by Mozart, Rossini, Kreutzer, and Crussell)
Karen Geoghegan, bassoon. BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Chandos 10613
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The expressive power and wide-range of the bassoon often are overlooked by most composers who tend to regard the instruments ability for more humorous occupations in larger orchestral works.  There are plenty of pieces that can demonstrate the instrument’s more lyrical quality and there is a fairly rich repertoire of concerti and solos to choose from though there has yet to be a Paganini-like virtuoso on the instrument (which may be due more to the personalities of those drawn to the instrument).

Karen Geoghegan has three previous releases to her credit as she is evidently out to survey some of the rich literature for the instrument.  This new disc from Chandos finds her exploring music from the late 18^th and early-19^th century.  At first glance it seems like the recording is a series of works around Bb, but there is more to the pieces here than meets the eye starting with Mozart’s essential concerto for the instrument.

 Mozart’s K. 191, composed in 1774, is a must perform piece for any student of the instrument and Geoghegan’s approach here is to warm the edges of the music in a beautifully lyrical performance that shows off the central range of the instrument in such perfect phrasing and technical mastery that one is drawn immediately into the music’s melodic ideas aptly supported by the BBC Philharmonic.  The only real quibble is that the cadenzas, which are not credited, are interesting and a bit overlong, especially in the opening movement (it extends the playing time of the whole work out a bit more).  A little more lingering on some of the lower register notes would have been nice too, mostly because Geoghegan’s tone color is so well-created in that register.

I had no idea Rossini wrote a bassoon concerto and this work, discovered in some manuscripts in the 1990s, is still not totally accepted by some scholars as his work.  There is some historical evidence that he wrote such a work because it is mentioned in the obituary of bassoonist Nazzareno  Gatti that such a piece had been written for him.  It is possible it was written for Gatti as a student performance piece back in 1845.  Regardless, the three-movement work is a fairly generic early 19^th century piece with a good solo part.  The pizzicato and lyrical second subject of the opening movement is a nice touch and the dramatic central section has operatic sensibilities.  It is a curiosity that is given a committed performance here.

The short little Fantasie by Conradin Kreutzer is a fairly innocuous work that allows for some display of the performer’s approach to variations in the thematic idea here.  A polish dance helps close of the piece.  It is a real little virtuoso piece with the many runs in the solo part handled so dexterously here that one forgets just how many notes are moving about.  It appears occasionally on recital discs and receives one of its finer performances here.

The disc closes with a piece written for a virtuoso by Bernhard Henrik Crusell in 1829.  This is the last work in the genre by the Swedish composer whose music bears some resemblance to Weber.  It takes its musical material from the French composer Adrien Boieldieu in the first movement and proceeds into a series of variations that are the center of the piece.  The finale allows for Geoghegan to show off the range of the instrument which she does with great aplomb.

Overall this is a wonderful demonstration disc of pieces from this late Classical, early Romantic period of music that features some truly marvelous playing.  The performances are enhanced by a spot-on support of the BBC orchestra under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda.  The CD is recommendable for those interested in an alternative to period-performance recordings of the Mozart and for some interesting, if marginal, works for the instrument.