Weber, Bitsch, Jolivet & Crussell: Bassoon Concertos

Featuring

Theo Plath
Leo McFall
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern
Carl Maria von Weber
Marcel Bitsch
André Jolivet

Bernhard Henrik Crusell

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Compositional Technique

Carl Maria von Weber's Bassoon Concerto reflects his skill as an opera composer, with themes finely attuned to expression and shading, unfolding like a varied plot.

Compositional Technique

Bernhard Crusell's Concertino for bassoon presents the instrument with unprecedented agility and virtuosity, making him a pioneer in bassoon literature.

Composer Biography

Marcel Bitsch, a composer and educator, was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1945 and served as a professor of counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris from 1953.

Compositional Technique

Marcel Bitsch's Concertino for Bassoon features an unusually large orchestra for a bassoon concerto, including trombone, percussion, English horn, and E-flat clarinet, providing a broad spectrum of timbres.

Album & Artwork

This debut CD combines two Romantic bassoon concertos with two contemporary French compositions, aiming to showcase the wide expressive possibilities of the bassoon as a solo instrument.

Interpretation

This recording of Carl Maria von Weber's Bassoon Concerto is based on the composer's second manuscript from 1822, which the performer finds more logical and interesting than the commonly published version.

Instruments

Both Marcel Bitsch's Concertino and André Jolivet's Concerto were originally written for the French bassoon, which has a lighter timbre and ease in the upper register, inspiring ethereal movements in their works.