Soulful Contemporary Bassoon Recital

From the Soul Frank Morelli, bassoon. Wei-Yi Tang, piano. Janna Baty, mezzo-soprano. Callisto Quartet Musica Solis 202602 Total Time:  59:06 Recording:   ****/**** Performance: ****/****

Bassoonists will be most familiar with Frank Morelli, the first person awarded a bassoon doctorate from the Julliard School.  He can be heard in many of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s recordings (notably the Mozart wind concertos disc) and also performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  Morelli has released several solo albums over his career.  Most recently was An Die Music (2024) also on Musica Solis (202405) which featured his own transcriptions of music by Schubert, Schumann (the Dichterliebe—an excellently versatile collection) and the Brahms first cello sonata.  For this release, his sixth solo endeavor, Morelli turns to contemporary music from a variety of composers and inspirations.

The album opens with the stunning Elegy for Innocence (2008) by Jeff Scott (b. 1967).  The more lyrical and reflective aspects of the melody here provide an accessible entry into the works that will follow.  Beginning with a somewhat sad, lullaby-like line, the music gradually becomes more intense with closer dense intervals within a tonal soundscape.  The virtuosic aspects of the work appear about a third of the way in which shifts into more technical and challenges and registral exploration.  The piano interaction and commentary is perfectly matches as well. 

I Never Saw Another Butterfly is a six-movement song cycle by Lori Laitman (b. 1955).  The 1996 work was originally for alto saxophone and voice and was specifically altered here for Morelli’s performance in 2002.  The texts are from children in the Terezin Concentration Camp that later were killed at Auschwitz.  A very personal and moving work, there are some interesting bassoon techniques here (including some muting) which add to the seeming simplicity of the poetry.  Together, it becomes a moving and quite profound work.  The plaintive bassoon lines against this poetry create an additional character. 

From the innocence of children, we move to old age and a transcription of the “Man With A Paint Box Aria” from Dominick Argento’s (1927-2019) 1971 opera Postcard from Morocco.  Here the bassoonist becomes the voice, even singing, to reflect on years gone by in a piece that works as a sort of palette cleanser from the emotional aspects of the previous work.

For many, it will be Wynton Marsalis’ Meeelaan (1999) that will be the initial eye catcher from the pieces here.  The work is a more personal one for the composer written for Milan Turkovic.  It is an intriguing blend of jazz styles and reaches into sounds perhaps more attuned to tenor or baritone saxophones.  The different stylistic explorations create a fascinating blend of material that is its own “soul” food for the bassoonist’s soul.  The work, which is for string quartet and bassoon, is set in three movements “Blues”, the Piazzolla-esque “Tango”, and “Bebop” each allowing some interesting syncopated and rhythmic interplay. 

To bookend these contemporary musical journeys, the final work, Prayer (2022), brings us into a more spiritual realm.  Composer Nirmali Fenn (b. 1979) wrote the work for Morelli who wanted some aspects that would encompass the Muslim call to prayer.  To that effect, the bassoon is sometimes called on to sound a bit like an Armenian duduk through some adjustments to both vibrato and fingerings.  There is also an unique effect of placing a “singing bowl” in the piano on the G4 string to add an additional effect.  All of this is quite compelling music.

Admittedly, a solo instrument recital is always a matter of taste, but this is all an enthralling selection of pieces that are intended to connect to the deeper levels of our own humanity.  The variety insures different musical voices and approaches that demonstrate the potential of the solo capability of the bassoon, but also provides some color and instrumental shifts that enable the pieces to stand out better across the hour play time.

The sound here is really quite marvelous.  The Laitman may take some adjustment as there is a bit more wide acoustic which balances the two lines here.  The Blocker Orchestral Hall, Yale, serves the overall sound of all these pieces well and the engineers have done a superb job with the imaging of the bassoon against the shifting accompaniments.  All interesting pieces that add to the repertoire with plenty of unique challenges.  The overall recital is an excellent listen that maintains ones interest throughout and is certainly recommended for those exploring new music for bassoon.  With the previous An Die Musik (the more generally accessible release) it makes for quite an extensive recital of one of our great bassoonists!