Bram van Sambeek Plays Bach on the Bassoon

Featuring

Bram van Sambeek
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Performer Biography

Bram van Sambeek is the recipient of the Dutch Music Prize, the most prestigious Dutch award in classical music.

Performer Biography

Bram van Sambeek, the bassoonist on this album, is known for his versatile approach to the instrument and innovative programming, reflected in his recordings for the BIS label.

Interpretation

For the Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude, the bassoonist employs circular breathing, an extended technique, to create the illusion of eternal motion, despite usually being reluctant to use it in Baroque music.

Interpretation

For multitrack recordings, the bassoonist created a 'fagotto hypothetico' voice, a pre-recorded rhythmic and harmonic framework, to allow for rubato and organic timing without a metronome.

Interpretation

The bassoonist uses alternating fingerings for the same note to achieve a change of color, a technique often considered 20th-century, similar to Bach's suggestion for cellists to alternate strings.

Compositional Technique

Thiemo Wind, a musicologist and music publisher, arranged Bach's French Suite in G major, BWV 816, by reducing it to its melodic essence, believing it was originally monophonic.

Recording & Production

The album features multitrack recording, a technique where voices are added one at a time, which became emblematic for the bassoonist during the Covid crisis.