Performing at Cannon Mine Coffee House in Lafayette

Performance of the Mozetich Bassoon Quartet

The bassoon quartet I’m in, the Boulder Bassoons, recently played for one of the member’s doctoral recitals, and we managed to get a recording of the performance.  The performance wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn good, so I’m linking the recording here, for your listening enjoyment.

The piece we performed was “Odes to the Americas”, by Marjan Mozetich, commissioned by the Caliban Bassoon Quartet.  The three movement piece is written for three bassoons and a contrabassoon, and is a lot of fun to play and to listen to.  Enjoy!

Odes to the Americas, by Marjan Mozetich

I. Good Times

II. Blue Souls

III. With You I Dance

Check out the following websites for more information:

Boulder Bassoons

Marjan Mozetich

Caliban Bassoon Quartet

The Caliban Quartet made the definitive recording of the piece, which can be found on their website, or places like Amazon.

Confessions of a Nutcracker Pit Musician

WARNING: This is a post I finished and then realized that it kind of sucked.  Not sure what my point was when I typed it.  I guess it was too late to be attempting something creative.  However, since is the only proof that I have, in fact, been on my blog at all in the last month, I decided to publish it anyway.  Read at your own risk!

With the holiday season now officially over, it’s time to look back at Christmas 2008.  Ah, yes.  The endless shopping with hopes of beating that Christmas deadline.  The dragging of cheery decorations out of boxes and into the living room with that thought in the back of your head that it will all have to be put away and dragged back into storage eventually.  That day or two of rest hanging out with family and friends.  The struggle to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year.

The pilgrimage to see the Nutcracker.

As an orchestral musician, I’ve been under the Nutcracker on a few occasions, but I had never seen it from the audience.  This year, I played in the orchestra for two productions, and finally got to see it for myself for the first time from the audience point of view.  Each production was put on by a unique group as far as skill, size, and quality – from the orchestra’s, the dancer’s and the stage’s point of view.  The first production was one in Grand Junction, staged by a private dance studio, accompanied by an orchestra that consisted of musicians contracted from CU in Boulder, and DU in Denver, along with a few local musicians.  The second was staged by a high school dance studio in Longmont, with the music supplied by the Niwot Timberline Symphony – a volunteer community orchestra.
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Meanwhile…

News on the old bassoon front is in short supply, these days.  Auditions?  Nope.  Performances?  Not Really.  Reeds?  Yeah, I got ‘em.  They work, though I’d rather not spend a whole post on them, right now.

So, now I’m confronted by the blogger’s worst nightmare:  Nothing much to write about, and yet, facing the need to write something. So, here’s three quick blurbs to pass the time.

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Hear Twelve Bassoons on YouTube

I last posted about performing in a rather large bassoon ensemble, but could only come up with a couple cheesy metaphors to describe what it sounded like.

Well, metaphors are no longer necessary, because now you, too, can see that very performance on YouTube.  The sound is mostly synced.  I’m third from the left.  I’m also the first player you hear.

Enjoy.

More Beautiful Than the Sound of a Guitar

Chopin said that the only thing more beautiful than the sound of a guitar is the sound of two guitars.  A few years later (just a few), Peter Schickele followed by asking, what is more beautiful than the sound of two guitars?  His answer was, of course, four bassoons.

While I certainly agree with that answer, I’d like to take that thought one step further.  Why stop with four bassoons?  Surely the more you add, the more beautiful the sound, right?  Hey!  No snickering!  (Or cringing, for that matter.)

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