Gubaidulina: Works for bassoon

A Look at the Depths

For most of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the bassoon was at most a "character actor" in a symphony whose stars were the strings. A dreadful come-down after the prominent and exquisite parts composed for bassoon by Baroque composers from Schuetz to Bach, bassoonists were typecast in the role of Peter's Grandafther, exploiting only those capabilities of the instrument that fit the preconception. There were exceptions, but not many...

Sophia Gubaidulina, inpired by the playing of her bassoonist friend Valery Popov, has swept away all such preconceptions, exploring not only the depths of the bassoon's range but also the thin-air heights, well into a tessitura more familiar to trumpeters. Popov had mastered several technical feats for which no composer had written music, including the illusion of "double stops" as produced on stringed instruments. Gubaidulina exploits all of Popov's virtuosity in her bassoon concerto, and as a bonus writes one of her most delicate and mysterious pieces of chamber music.

Two previous reviewers have described this music in ample detail and with appropriate warmth. I merely wish to alert amazon shoppers who expect reviews of Renaissance and Baroque music from me to the work of a contemporary whom I regard as the greatest woman composer since Chiara Margarita Cozzolani. February 17, 2008

Two bold seventies pieces and a chamber work of beautiful fragility

Among the many talented performers Sofia Gubaidulina worked with in the 1970s was the bassoonist Valery Popov. A virtuoso who had mastered contemporary techniques of microtonal playing, producing more than one pitch at a time, and so forth, Popov inspired Gubaidulina to turn toward the bassoon, and two large works of this decade were written for him. On this Chandos disc we are fortunate to have Popov performing on the instrument. He is accompanied by pianist Alexander Bakhchiyev and violist Natasha Gigashvili on one chamber piece, fellow bassoonist Mikhail Bochkov on the other, and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pyotr Meshchaninov on the concerto.

The "Concerto for bassoon and low strings" was written in 1975. I didn't expect much out of the piece, thinking that it would prove an immature effort like some Gubaidulina works from this period, but I was quickly impressed. The concerto possesses the intensely focused dramatic potential of all of Gubaidulina's best work. Split into five sections, the first, third, and fifth movents represent sonata forms, while the second and fourth movements are interludes. In spite of the limited instrumentation, Gubaidulina creates a fairly large palette of sounds through alternating between arco and pizzicato on the strings, and exploiting the range of the bassooon to the max. The drama of the work consists in the opposition of the bassoon and the string orchestra, and perhaps this is division is why the piece reminds me so much of "Pro et contra" for large orchestra written 14 years later.

In the "Duo Sonata" for two bassoons (1977), the first theme consists of scales and temolos, while the second theme evokes Russian Orthodox chant reminding one of a similar sound in the composer's "Offertorium" or "Alleluia". About halfway through, the bassoonists each begin using unusual technique to produce chords, which eerily makes it sound as if there were more instrumentalists present than actually are.

"Quasi hoquetus" for violin, bassoon, and piano (1984) is one of a number of works from the 1980s, such as "Percetion" and the symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen...", that introduce the Fibonacci sequence and other numerical mysticism as a major part of the form. It's essentially a rondo in seven sections (another magic number), where each of the parts interlocks due to specially placed rests or notes, the medieval technique of "hocketing", hence the title. The crystalline nature of the piece reminds one of Webern, one of Gubaiduina's heroes, but the zahlenmystik and spiritually charged use of silence could only come from the Russian Orthodox Gubaidulina.

The limited timbres of this collection make me hesitant to place it among the top Gubaidulina discs, and as an introduction to the composer the symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen..." (on Chandos), the JOHANNES-PASSION (Hanssler), and the violin concerto "Offertorium" (BIS or DG) would serve better. Nonetheless, this is strong material, and worth hearing for those seeking out the work of this superb composer. August 5, 2006

the bassoon in the spotlight!

This is a fantastic set of 3 works for bassoon by Sofia Gubaidulina, featuring the Russian bassoon virtuoso, Valeri Popov. The earliest of the three is the "Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings" (1975), but it is presented last. The first piece, "Duo Sonata" (1977), was written, like the Concerto, for Popov, and he is joined by Mikhail Bochkov. For the listener, the elegant Duo affords 13 minutes to grow accustomed to the tone of the bassoon, so rarely heard in a featured role.

The central composition, "Quasi hoquetus" (1984 -- 14"41), for bassoon, viola and piano, is the most immediately striking and impressive of the three, and perhaps the best. Gubaidulina's works always have a spiritual symbolic dimension, and in this one it seems clear that the piano is used to invoke God, or Heaven. The chords which begin the work, and then recur, remind me of the use of the shimmering G chord in the symphony, "Stimmen ... verstummen" (see my review). I dare not go further in speculating on the referents -- the bassoon and viola are frequently paired and set against the piano, what could that mean? "Quasi hoquetus" ends with the three voices joining in a dramatic upward chord progression.

The nearly 30-minute "Concerto" is a work that has grown on me tremendously with repeated listening. It was composed at a time when Gubaidulina was immersed in radical avant-garde circles in Moscow, working in an experimental electronic music studio in 1969-1970, and then joining the ASTREA improvisation group from 1975-1981. One of the radical elements in the Concerto is pitch-- Popov produces a wide array of astonishing sounds, all in the service of the work's structure and texture. The first, third and fifth movements are sections of an overarching sonata form, while the second and fourth movements are intermezzi. The low strings of the Russian State Symphony Orchestra ably bring to life the vision of the composer.

The WORKS FOR BASSOON are further testimony to the unique vision of Sofia Gubaidulina. Fear not the unusual instrumentation -- if you wanted ordinary music, you know where you could easily find it. See my SOFIA GUBAIDULINA'S SACRED SOUNDWORLD list for more music from one of the best composers of our time. June 4, 2005

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