Dedicated to my friend Antonino Cicero, an excellent and
passionate bassoonist from Messina, the piece “De Buoenos Aires a Messina” by
Argentine composer Fabricio Gatta is part of a series of compositions for
bassoon dedicated to tango and recorded for the Argentine label Acqua Records
on the CD “Un tango para vos,” performed by the author and Cicero, who worked
on this successful project.
Antonino, in friendship, gave me the score just when my
son Ludovico was in Italy, so we took the opportunity to perform it for my
YouTube channel.
Leslie Bassett was an American composer (1923-2016) of
orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, piano and organ works, performed in the
Americas, Asia and Europe. He is considered one of the most important American
composers in recent history. Born in Hanford, California, Bassett studied
piano, trombone, cello and other instruments, then served as a trombonist,
composer and arranger in the band of the 13th Armoured Division in the United
States and Europe during World War II.He received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1966 for his “Variations for
Orchestra”, premiered in Rome in 1963 by the RAI Symphony Orchestra conducted
by Ferruccio Scaglia.
'Metamorphoses'
for solo bassoon was commissioned by friends, colleagues and students of L.
Hugh Cooper, professor of bassoon at the University of Michigan, on the
occasion of his retirement.
Each of the eight metamorphoses develops from a short
fragment taken from orchestral literature for bassoon. (Stravinsky: Rite of
Spring, Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf, Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, Beethoven:
Symphony No. 3, 1 and 8 Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy, Chabrier: Espana)
Themes, pitches and rhythms are substantially modified
from the original, yet the sources remain clearly recognisable, giving rise to
this new music; tributes rather than quotations.
The first
performance was given by Gwendolyn Rose on 12 February 1991.
Prima di lasciare al compositore il compito di presentare
il suo brano, vorrei esprimere la mia esultanza per aver avuto l’onore di
registrare la prima esecuzione di questo bellissima composizione.
“Contrapuncti: un brano basato, dopo una breve
introduzione di tipo "esortativo" su un semplice basso
ostinato discendente, e più volte ripetuto, di 4 note (in stile un pò....
Neo-barocco) sul quale si formano, si diramano e si infittiscono delle linee
melodiche tra loro intrecciate e sovrapposte (quindi dei Contrapuncti) per dar
vita ad una breve, ma credo intensa composizione, in cui il fagotto unisce il
suo bel timbro pieno e sonoro con la classica sonorità ricca e pastosa di un
gruppo d'archi. Il basso viene interrotto circa a metà del brano
con l'inserimento di una nuova figura melodica più articolata anch'essa
ripetuta fino al termine dell'intera composizione.” (D.Zaffaroni)
I intended my bassoon version of cosmologist Hildegard of
Bingen's “Studium divinitatis” to be a prayer rising from the sound of bells. But not a plea for intercession, rather a
praise of gratitude to the One who is All. With the awareness of already having
everything, with the gift of life.
