Joseph Jones; Telemann’s Bassoon (11/10/22)

Joseph Jones ~ bassoon; Serafim Smigelskiy ~ violoncello; Robert Warner ~ harpsichord 

Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in C Major – J.F. Fasch (1688–1758)
Largo ~ Allegro ~ Andante ~ Allegro assai
Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in G minor – J.B. de Boismortier (1689–1755)
Allemande ~ Aria ~ Adagio ~ Giga
Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in E minor – J.E. Galliard (1687–1747)
Allegro−Adagio e Staccato−Adagio ~ Allemande ~ Corrente ~ Tempo di Menuet
Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in F minor – G.P. Telemann (1681-1767)
Triste ~ Allegro ~ Andante ~ Vivace 

What does this even mean? Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo? Well, the bassoon is the soloist, supported by continuo (usually a keyboard instrument—here, a harpsichord). But ‘continuo’ can also encompass another instrument—here, a cello. 

That said, in most of these works, the cello was pretty much an equal partner with the bassoon. The bassoon is a fun instrument. It makes those slightly squeaky, burping sounds you hear in an orchestra. But it can be a little more smoother and fun, as was heard in this concert. 

That said, these four Sonatas were very similar in overall sound and interest. The Telemann had movements that were slightly longer than the other three. And the third movement of the Telemann ended surprisingly, which led into the fourth movement. 

Since the Sonatas were so similar, the movements were (without overly repeating myself): Gentle; Bright; Slower; Brisk; Dance-like; Leaning toward mournful. Notably, one movement opened with a harpsichord cello duet, which was a nice change of pace. Well, the rest of my notes are pretty much repeats. 

You’ll notice that I often say dance-like. That’s because the composers use dance terms as movement names—Allemande, Giga, Corrente, Menuet. Yes, there is a mish-mash.  Corrente = courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. (Thank you, Wikipedia.) Allemande = An allemande (allemanda, almain(e), or alman(d), French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach and Handel. It is often the first movement of a Baroque suite of dances, paired with a subsequent courante … (thank you, Wikipedia). I think Menuet speaks for itself discounting a rather ‘blue’ joke? 

Suffice it to say that I enjoyed the concert and learned a little about composers I’d never heard of before.

ConcertMeister