Customer Reviews

Vivaldi: Bassoon Concertos Vol.1

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I don't think I've ever heard a bad recording of a Vivaldi bassoon concerto. That may say more about me than about the recordings, but I don't think so. There is something about these concerti that attracts good players and, let's face it, these are not the most profound compositions ever written; they tend to be virtuosic for the soloist and have fairly simple orchestral accompaniments. They are, however, unfailingly pleasant, falling gracefully on the ear. I have particularly liked the recordings of Klaus Thuneman, Michael McCraw, and William Bennett. Here we have what appears to be the beginning of a new series of Vivaldi Bassoon Concerti featuring a bassoonist heretofore unknown to me, Tam'ás Benk'ócs (whose name, I'm informed by a Hungarian friend, is pronounced roughly TAHmahsh BENcoach). He is accompanied by the modern-instrument Nicolaus Esterh'ázy Sinfonia conducted by B'éla Drahos, the group and conductor that have made creditable recordings of Beethoven and Haydn symphonies for the Naxos label.

Vivaldi is thought to have written 39 bassoon concerti, of which two or more are incomplete. This CD contains, for those of you who are counting, seven of this number. They are RV 476 in C, 487 in F, 471 in C, 498 in A minor, 480 in C minor, 503 in B flat minor, 493 in G. (RV stands for 'Ryom-Verzeichnis', the catalog made of Vivaldi's works by musicologist Péter Ryom.) I list the specific concerti because Amazon has not done so on this page, or at least they haven't as of this review.

The performances are exemplary. Benkó'cz's playing is technically flawless as well as being musical. His playing is equally impressive in the dancing fast movements and the more pensive middle movements. He does employ a bit more expressive range than some other players; this possibly accords with more modern scholarship about baroque performance practice. Whether it does or not, it pleased me. Further, his tone is very rich, even in rapid passages. He uses a moderate amount of vibrato, praise be. Tempi are well-chosen.

Pity the poor record label that sets out to record all of Vivaldi's extant concerti for all instruments, something over five hundred. Maybe they'll stop with these bassoon works; I figure they can probably get the bassoon concerti onto about five or six CDs, a number that is not overwhelming. I'll be looking for further issues.

TT=61.32

Scott Morrison

This is an excellent set of CDs; the bassoon playing is absolutely superb. It can be hard to find great recordings of Vivaldi bassoon concerti on modern instruments, but Benkocs's playing is refined and technically brilliant. This is definitely one of the best bassoon recordings I've ever heard, on par with Dag Jensen, with whom Benkocs studied. Congrats to Naxos for finding a great bassoonist to do this project!

Until this set of recordings was started, all we really had as far as recordings of Vivaldi bassoon concerti were one or two performances of the more popular ones by excellent bassoonists and a load of garbage by a man named Daniel Smith, whose playing is an abomination to both Vivaldi and the bassoon.

(It sickens me that, when we have incredible bassoonists like Dag Jensen and Bernard Garfield and Knut Sönstevold and David McGill and Laurent Lefevré and the late Maurice Allard--perhaps the greatest bassoonist to ever live--and a host of others, all of whom could play circles around Daniel Smith, that the latter's recordings outsell those of the former. He's been called the "James Galway of the bassoon", a pure load of dingo's kidneys by somebody who's obviously never heard even a decent bassoonist in his life. Ridiculous.)

Although Tamás' tone is a little dark for my tastes, it's certainly extremely pleasant to listen to. His phrasing is very beautiful, his technique is spotless, and unlike bassoonists with the initials D.S., he doesn't sound constipated.

Thank you, Tamás. Hopefully, if you complete this set, people will come to their senses.

Buy these discs. You'll like them.

My wife and I were searching for a concert performance piece heard on the radio. Unable to find the exact title, we bought Vivaldi: Complete Basson Concertos, Vol. 1 & 2. We were delighted with both the compositions and the performance. Great music while on long trips. A real discover, depending on your interests.

This is a wonderful Vivaldi selection that does a great job of featuring bassoon. It is classic Vivaldi music and is only made better by the addition of the bassoon solos. For anyone who enjoys the gorgeous energeticness of Vivaldi and wants to hear some bassoon, this is the cd to get.