Bassoon

These colorful unaccompanied musical scenes from the city are excellent study and recital pieces.The 7 short movements depict the composer's experiences during a visit to New York City. The movements are Another Sunrise, Off to a Busy Day, The Lost Key Episode, The Waitin' in Line Blues, Romantic Interlude, Sudden Storm, and Out on the Town. "Tonal, charming and imaginative! The low purchase price and the incisive approach of a skilled composer make this a piece worth seeking out.”- PMEA News

For Bassoon, Trombone or Euphonium.

Flute. Oboe or Clarinet and Bassoon

I. Inception

II. Interruption

III. Conversation

IV. Resolution

These duos are designed to provide an enjoyable and pedagogically sound context in the study of orchestral excerpts for bassoon. By learning both parts of the duets, you should develop a better sense of the harmonies and rhythms that are present in other parts of the orchestra. Each piece is designed to have clear beginnings, endings, and transitions so that the arrangement feels like a short piece, rather than a collection of disjointed excerpts. In order to accomplish this, I have added and modified some material based on the original orchestral parts.

Volume 1 contains music that is fairly technically accessible, while Volume 2 is considerably more challenging. If your goal is to use these duos to help familiarize yourself with these excerpts before you have all the technical skills needed, then you may try starting with some of the easier accompaniments or try simplifying some of the solos by changing tempos, octaves, articulations, etc.

Duets included:

Giuseppe Verdi – Quid sum miser from Requiem                                                                 

Ludwig van Beethoven – Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9                                                  

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Canzona from Symphony No. 4                                                    

Johannes Brahms – Violin Concerto Movement II                                                               

Paul Dukas – The Sorceror’s Apprentice                                                                              

Felix Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 4 Movement II                                                            

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6                                                                        

Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 1 Movement III                                                                 

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Concerto Movement II                                                       

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Waltz from Symphony No. 5                                                       

Johannes Brahms – Haydn Variations                                                                                

Georges Bizet – Les Dragons d’Alcala, Entr’acte from Carmen Act II                                   

Edvard Grieg – In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite #1, Op. 46                 

Jean Sibelius – Andante from Symphony No. 2                                                                  

Hector Berlioz – March to the Scaffold from Symphonie Fantastique                                   

These duos are designed to provide an enjoyable and pedagogically sound context in the study of orchestral excerpts for bassoon. By learning both parts of the duets, you should develop a better sense of the harmonies and rhythms that are present in other parts of the orchestra. Each piece is designed to have clear beginnings, endings, and transitions so that the arrangement feels like a short piece, rather than a collection of disjointed excerpts. In order to accomplish this, I have added and modified some material based on the original orchestral parts.

Volume 1 contains music that is fairly technically accessible, while Volume 2 is considerably more challenging. If your goal is to use these duos to help familiarize yourself with these excerpts before you have all the technical skills needed, then you may try starting with some of the easier accompaniments or try simplifying some of the solos by changing tempos, octaves, articulations, etc.

Ludwig van Beethoven – Finale from Symphony No. 4                                                         

Hector Berlioz – Witches’ Sabbath from Symphonie Fantastique                                           

Edward Elgar – Enigma Variations                                                                                       

Franz Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 88                                                                           

W.A. Mozart – Finale from Symphony No. 41                                                                     

Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks                                                              

W.A. Mozart – Overture from The Marriage of Figaro                                                         

Igor Stravinsky – Gavotta from Pulcinella                                                                           

P.I. Tchaikovsky – Finale from Symphony No. 6                                                                  

Igor Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring                                                                                   

Bedrich Smetana – Overture from The Bartered Bride                                                        

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – “Price Kalandar” from Scheherazade

with Piano

James Grant says, ” Slow jazz… What musical language could celebrate more appropriately the lyrical, sensuous, expressive character of the bassoon? The three Chocolates, in this version for bassoon and piano, are torch songs in the tradition of the passionate, tuneful ballads of the American 40s and 50s. The first two Chocolates, Valentine and Bittersweet, offer soulful narratives that speak to devotion, poignancy, romance, uncertainty, longing. The third Chocolate, Triple Mocha Indulgence, is slightly less soul-searching, more ebullient, and progressively becomes more animated (a sugar high, perhaps?) right up to its raucous close. Chocolates was commissioned and premiered in 1998 by violist Michelle LaCourse, to whom this music is dedicated.”

Chocolates can be heard on bassoonist Mary Stuckemeyer’s CD of the same title, published through Potenza Music.

with Piano

Concertino for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble was commissioned by Eastern Michigan University Bands and premiered by the EMU Wind Symphony with Christine Prince as solo bassoonist in April, 2004. The version with piano accompaniment was premiered at the 2006 International Double Reed Society conference. It is a dramatic, one-movement work that showcases the performer’s lyricism and technical facility.

with Orchestra; "Concerto for Bassoon" by Howard J. Buss was composed during 2016 and 2017 and is dedicated to Dr. Keith Sweger. This work was created in two versions – one for bassoon and piano, and the other for bassoon and orchestra. Cast in two movements, "Reminiscences" and "Excursions", the music spans a wide range of moods and timbral atmospheres, ranging from lyric tenderness to forceful, aggressive sections: (19’) Grade V-VI.

Can also be played with the Euphonium as the solo instrument.

with Piano

Mozart – Concerto in A major for Clarinet and Orchestra, arranged and edited for Bassoon by Myles Mingyuan Yang.

The piano reduction is based on Henri Kling’s edition which was published by Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, n.d. (ca. 1883). Plate 16273. The arrangement is kept in the original key for bassoon players to better know the original work. Using the original key will also help students find piano collaborators. The bassoon part in this edition is transposed and edited by Myles Mingyuan Yang from traditional clarinet practice. Some phrases have been modified to better suit the bassoon. Some dynamic markings have been added and edited in the solo part by the editor. Grace notes before trills have been omitted so performers can choose for themselves to either start on the upper auxiliary or lower auxiliary. The piano reduction has been modified to keep the chord relationship and better fit with the bassoon texture via octave displacement in certain sections to keep the appropriate harmonic relationship of the bassoon line. Cross staff chords are rearranged to stay in the same system with clef changes. Some dynamic markings and articulations in the piano reduction have been modified to enhance balance and match articulation with the bassoon.

Suggested articulations and dynamics have been added by the editor. Bowing marks are occasionally added to help with showing motive shapes. Suggested fingerings have been provided in the practice notes on pages 1 and 2, but they may not work on every bassoon. Finger names are indicated by Left/Right hand 1 2 3 4, counting from the index finger to the pinky. Repeated trill fingerings are only listed where they first appear in the music. Some musical passages can be challenging so alternate options are provided in the practice notes. Some alternative interpretations are also marked in the music as Ossia.

with Piano

The piano reduction is based on Carl Burchard’s flute edition which was published by Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, Plate V.A. 2577. The arrangement is kept in the original key for bassoon players to better know the original work. Using the original key will also help students find piano collaborators. The bassoon part in this edition is transposed and edited by Mingyuan Yang from traditional flute practice. Some phrases have been modified to better suit the bassoon. Some dynamic markings have been added and edited in the solo part by the editor. Grace notes before trills have been omitted so performers can choose for themselves to either start on the upper auxiliary or lower auxiliary. The piano reduction has been modified to keep the chord relationship and better fit with the bassoon texture via octave displacement in certain sections to keep the appropriate harmonic relationship of the bassoon line. Cross staff chords are rearranged to stay in the same system with clef changes. Some dynamic markings and articulations in the piano reduction have been modified to enhance balance and match articulation with the bassoon.

NOTE: Mozart arranged the music of this concerto in two different keys, C major for oboe and D major for flute, both numbered K. 314. The flute edition is the easier choice for the player who wants to learn and perform this music. The oboe edition is the more challenging of the two because the range is high on bassoon, making it an effective work to show off the top register of the instrument. Conversely, the more accessible bassoon range of the flute edition allows ample opportunity to display lyrical expression.

Edited for bassoon by Mingyuan Yang.