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Track(s) taken from CDA67453

Pièce

composer
arranger

Laurence Perkins (bassoon), New London Orchestra, Ronald Corp (conductor)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: July 2003
St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Will Brown & Simon Eadon
Release date: November 2004
Total duration: 3 minutes 28 seconds
 

Reviews

‘One of the jolliest CDs to have crossed my desk in ages … the indefatigable Perkins has assembled some genuine rarities for our delight’ (The Mail on Sunday)

‘Perkins is a compelling advocate of the instrument, not only in his painstaking work as orchestrator and arranger, and his enthusiastic and well-researched booklet notes, but most of all in his playing … this is a delightful disc which will be of interest to a much wider audience than merely the bassoon-crazy’ (International Record Review)

‘Perkins is an excellent bassoonist who managed to collect some interesting and unusual pieces for his instrument, arranging others himself. His enthusiasm for the repertoire and the bassoon itself are immediately apparent. He plays with a spontaneity that makes us entirely forget technique, so that we never feel like we are witnessing a feat of bravura. His beautiful sound and effortless dexterity all work towards making the music gently caress the ear’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘I admire Perkins' playing very much; it is expressive and highly polished’ (Classical Music Web)

‘The playing here is not just comical (where required), it's also very beautiful—a lovely example of music-making’ (Manchester Evening News)
Gabriel Fauré was an outstanding miniaturist – his ability to convey powerful musical ideas in a composition lasting sometimes only two or three minutes was one of the qualities that made him such a great composer of songs. Alongside these are a considerable number of chamber works, yet he wrote no music specifically for solo bassoon. Fauré composed this Pièce originally as a Vocalise-Étude pour voix élevée avec accompagnement de piano in E minor, which was first published in 1907. It has since been transcribed for numerous solo instruments, but the lyrical melody line in Pièce fits so perfectly into the bassoon’s expressive middle and tenor registers that it is hard to think of it as anything other than an original work.

from notes by Laurence Perkins © 2004

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