A bassoonist’s DNA

During my Master’s Degree I wanted to find a piece by a Ukrainian composer to include in my recital because I have Ukrainian heritage with my family originally from Stari-Kuty, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, and Sydoriv, Ternopil oblast in Western Ukraine. Unfortunately, I initially found very few results when researching possible options, all of which were not easily accessible. The music was either unpublished or out of print due to the tumultuous political climate of the Soviet Union.

The inspiration…

This led to the first problem I encountered in tracking down music by Ukrainian composers: basically, all of the information regarding Ukrainian composers is written in Ukrainian using the Cyrillic alphabet, and there is practically no resources published on Ukrainian wind music. At first, this research was a daunting task as I did not know the language. However, having taken two years of Ukrainian classes, I can now read well and write at a basic level helping me find information. First I started with Google searches in Ukrainian. Then, I started reading on Ukrainian composers in different encyclopedias and handbooks, such as the National Union of Ukrainian Composers membership books. From there, I began compiling a list of works for bassoon by Ukrainian composers which grew into a catalogue of works for solo bassoon, with piano, with harpsichord, concertos, and various chamber works ranging from duos, trios, quartets, wind quintets, and more. I have tracked down the scores for about half of the music, but I am still searching for the rest!

Finding the music…

The second problem I encountered is that the majority of this music is unpublished and only exists in a manuscript meaning every piece is physically located in a different location. Therefore, tracking down the music has involved sending lots of emails to find a lead on each piece, such as finding contact information if the composer is living or if a library or organization they were associated with might have the music. I started contacting composers whose contact information I could find online. This was when my research began to snowball as most people I spoke with were able to provide me with contact information for another composer, librarian, or family member of a deceased composer who could help me track down these scores. I slowly found one piece at a time through this process. Eventually, a couple of composers heard about my project and reached out to me. Over the last two years, I have been in contact with around 30 composers, family members of deceased composers, and librarians. Next, I began contacting various organizations in Ukraine, such as Ukrainian Classical Live, and libraries in Ukraine, such as the National Music Academy of Ukraine Library. Finally, I contacted Ukrainian bassoonists Taras Osadchiy and Yuri Konrad, who premiered many of these works and have helped provide scores and information on the pieces.

It has been a fascinating experience learning more about these composers and their works directly from the composers themselves or through their family members. I have also had the opportunity to meet a few composers in person. For example in November 2022, I met and had coffee with composer Alexander Jacobchuk, who had recently moved to the Toronto area from Ukraine. He played many recordings of his works for me, showed me medals he won for his compositions, and told me interesting stories about his career and life.

Commissioning…

As my project and research evolved, I have had the opportunity to collaborate on new music with some of the composers I have been in contact with. It has been an exciting and rewarding process to experience new works coming to life, from nothing but an idea in the beginning stages to a fully finished piece. One thing that I find interesting about the process is getting to know every detail behind the music and composer’s inspirations by being able to ask any questions I have regarding their intentions. For example, what the meaning and thought process behind a particular marking in the score is. I will premiere two works for bassoon and piano at the end of May 2023 by Sergey Pilyutikov and Dmytro Kyryliv. Additionally, another two pieces are currently being written by Andriy Lehki (woodwind quartet) and Oleksii Shvyrkunov (bassoon and piano).

Turns for Bassoon and Piano – Sergey Pilyutikov (b. 1965)

Sergey Pilyutikov is a composer active in Kyiv, Ukraine. I first contacted him via email at the beginning of October 2022 to ask about a solo bassoon piece he wrote, which I read about in my research. Unfortunately, he informed me that the work was unpublished, and the manuscript got lost in his move from Kharkiv to Kyiv a long time ago. However, he offered to write a new piece for me to premiere at my recital in May and to include in my project. A couple of months later, he sent me the finished score and information behind the piece.

Description of the piece written by the composer:

“Conventionally, the composition consists of three parts. The first is the sphere of rapid movement in which all the virtuoso possibilities of the modern bassoon are revealed. The second is the sphere of meditation and quiet singing. The third is a stormy, concert finale that unites the main ideas of the first and second parts.”

Molfar for Bassoon and Piano – Dmytro Kyryliv (b. 2002)

            Dmytro Kyryliv is a composer originally from Ternopil, Ukraine, and active in Vienna. I first contacted him via email at the end of March 2022, asking about a solo bassoon piece he wrote, Carpathian Sketches. He told me about the work and sent me the music for it. He also offered to write me a new piece to premiere. Then, at the end of last summer, Kyryliv was visiting Toronto, and I met up with him. We discussed various ideas and inspirations for the piece. We both agreed that it would be interesting to take inspiration from Ukrainian folklore and folk music and combine it with contemporary techniques. Kyryliv decided to utilize aspects from folk music, such as the Ukrainian minor scale, and elements from contemporary music, such as multiphonics. Over the next couple of months, we exchanged messages and spoke on Zoom to discuss the piece and its idiomatic techniques, including good multiphonics to use and if specific passages worked well on the bassoon. Kyryliv then finished the final draft of the piece at the beginning of January. Since then, I have been learning and rehearsing the piece while sending various questions to get clarification on different elements to fully understand the intentions behind everything he wrote in the piece.

Amanda Gourlay (flute), Glenda Lindgren (oboe), Zachary Senick (bassoon), Allie Harrington (clarinet) in Saskatoon

Two works for bassoon and piano you should check out…

 Fagotina for Bassoon and Piano – Oleksandr Zhylinsky (1955-2020)

This piece is equivalent to the popular concours pieces written for the Paris Conservatory bassoonists. It begins and ends with a slow, lyrical section contrasted with a virtuosic middle section featuring showy technique, fast articulation, and syncopated rhythms. This piece could be an excellent addition to a recital program for a bassoonist already familiar with the concours repertoire. I tracked down this work by contacting Zhylinsky’s wife, who got someone to scan the manuscript in the basement of an archive in Kyiv, Ukraine.

 Fagotina was written in 1983 and revised in 1986 as the mandatory piece for the All-Ukraine bassoon competition. Zhylinsky was born on December 1st, 1955 in Berdyansky, Zaporizhia oblast of Ukraine. He graduated from the Kyiv State Institute of Theatrical Art, where he studied acting and singing. Later he studied composition under Levko Kolodub at the Kyiv Conservatory, graduating in 1987.

Length: 5.5 minutes / Range: Bb1 – D#5 / Unpublished – a copy of the manuscript is available / Standard Notation, no extended techniques / Key: features Ukrainian tonality and harmonies. (lyrical sections: 0 #/b’s; middle section: 1 #/b) / Meter: various metrical changes from from 2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/4, and 7/8

Recording: https://youtu.be/qWHNhIN5XXY

Zachary Senick is pursuing a DMA at the University of Toronto. Read more about him here.

Philip Morehead talks about his transition from a professional opera career to an amateur presence in the bassoon world.

I spent almost 35 years as a member of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s musical staff and had the pleasure of working with some of the greatest singers of our time, including Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Renata Scotto, Fiorenza Cossotto, Alfredo Kraus, Tatiana Troyanos, Paolo Montarsolo, Sesto Bruscantini and many, many others. In my early years at the opera, many of the singers were Italian. Undoubtedly having that unique Italian sound in my ears has influenced my musical work on the bassoon, though my technique has not developed sufficiently yet to reproduce that velvety sound on my new instrument.

My work at the opera involved both piano (playing for rehearsals and assisting thje conductor) and conducting some operas, student performances and regular performances too. Some of the singers I conducted were rising young stars, some of whom are now major stars (such as Quinn Kelsey, J’Nai Bridges, Susanna Phillips, Matthew Polenzani, Will Liverman), and some well-established singers, such as Stephanie Blythe, Frank Lopardo, and Canada’s own Sondra Radvanovsky, who I conducted in a performance of Un ballo in Maschera. In my work I had the pleasure of working with the excellent Lyric Opera orchestra. For almost all of my time there the principal bassoon was Jim Berkenstock, and the contra player, who is still there, was Lewis Kirk. They were good colleagues and I enjoyed our collaborations.

The move from the podium to playing in the orchestra has certainly been challenging. Aside from the basic problem of producing the right fingerings at the right time and a decent sound under the baton of a conductor, there are the orchestral problems of tuning, counting, blending and trying to be a good support for one’s colleagues. One thing I discovered is that the minute you move from the podium to the orchestra your attitude changes, not always for the better. Fundamentally, though we’re all working towards the same goal, in many ways the relationship between conductor and conductees is an adversarial one, and it’s amazing how fast one moves from one camp to the other. Working in the North Bay Symphony I have needed all the skills I have developed over my opera years.

What have I learned from the great singers of my opera days that transfers to my new instrument? Certainly, the issue of legato is one of the most important. Legato involves all of the techniques of sound production: breath control, continuity of support, finding

I remember one of the operas I experienced several times (as a listener—I wasn’t assigned to the opera, but I did conduct it on the island Belle Île en mer off the coast of France) during my time at Lyric was Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), which has one of the most sublime bassoon solos in the repertoire, Una furtiva lagrima. Just listen to any one of the great tenors singing this aria, and you’ll learn all you need to know about legato. The first production during my time, my first year, was supposed to be sung by the great Pavarotti, but as he often did, he cancelled the first half of the run. Lyric Opera, at that time (early 1980’s) was very Italianate, and they would hire a replacement singer from the depths of Italy rather than use a North American. In this case, however, the replacement was Carlo Bergonzi, a singer who at that time was as important a tenor as Pavarotti, maybe more so. He was then in his 60s, but he sang performances that perfectly captured the young bumpkin that sings that iconic aria, as beautifully as I have ever heard. The audiences in Chicago didn’t know who he was, so many people turned in their tickets, not knowing they would get a performance far superior to the disinterested one Pavarotti would deliver when he finally got there.

When you have heard the creamy soprano of Mirella Freni singing La Bohème (or any other of her many roles), you are permanently rendered unable to be satisfied with anything else, no matter how musical or expressive. I don’t know if it’s the pasta or the wine or the ambience of Italy that produces this sound, but it is unique. Playing an instrument, especially a wind instrument, is at its base a kind of singing and is strongly influenced by vocalism. Many wind instrument teachers encourage their students to listen to singers to find out how to phrase and, foremost, how to play legato. We try to get as close as we can to that miraculous natural instrument.

Another issue (which is even more of an issue on the piano, where everything can be instantaneous) is how to play intervals wider than a second. One learns that moving over the wider intervals requires (and should require) a subtle timing that reflects the distance travelled and the effort required to travel that distance. It shouldn’t be a trivial matter to play a fifth, a seventh, an octave.

There is also the question of text. A bassoonist doesn’t have a text (in words) but should certainly be trying to communicate something, in a manner not unsimilar to delivering a text. This involves ‘unnotatable’ factors of timing and sound. As we are frequently told, the score is only the beginning: there are so many elements that can’t be written down.

There are other lessons one learns from performing opera which serve one well in the orchestra:

Listening: The singer rules in opera, or should, in my opinion. Opera timing is very dependent on the singer, and the flexibility one develops in working in the idiom is very useful in other repertoire. A good opera orchestra is always listening to the singers (if they can hear them). I remember I was conducting Carmen once and had a Micaela who was a notorious schlepper. In our one dress rehearsal I tried to conduct all that was happening in her aria and found it very difficult, if not impossible; but if I trusted the orchestra to react to her rubati, it was easy. Trust of your players is another good lesson from opera.

The ability to adapt to the immediate situation: Opera is unpredictable. When you have singers singing from memory and acting on stage, you never really know what’s going to happen once you pass the initial downbeat. I have seen well-known orchestral conductors (who shall remain nameless) trying to conduct opera and not enjoying that unpredictability. I think one either relishes it or should stay away from the form. However, that kind of living in the moment should be an important part of orchestral music as well. One should be able to react to the inspiration of the moment, either in one’s own playing or in the playing of one’s comrades. It makes for a so much richer experience.

At age 81 my aspirations for my bassoon playing are limited. But I am greatly enjoying this remarkable instrument!

It’s all in the notation…

Do you practice orchestral excerpts in different keys?  This is most beneficial in slower lyrical melodies where transpositions into adjacent keys reveal unexpected alterations in vibrato, colour and expressive intent.  Our expression is so influenced by the subtle differences in resistance and tuning that emerge with each new transposition.  Serious students should learn to navigate familiar solos in unfamiliar keys.  Excerpts like Tchaikovsky 4, Scheherazade or the Firebird Berceuse become very different musical challenges simply with a change of key signature.  But we may also react unconsciously to something as simple as an enharmonic change!

The acoustical complexity of the bassoon forces us to master complex fingerings, embouchure and air flow changes as we climb to the highest register. And while differences in resistance and harmonic spectra are most pronounced in the tenor range and above, they are equally challenging as we navigate the simplest of scales.  Learning to overcome unevenness in your bassoon and uncovering your true singing instincts is a primary focus for all advanced players. Playing the melodies you love in different keys reveals everything!  Elsewhere on this website you will find some thorough discussions of various tactics – an article on alternative fingering protocols and lengthy symposium on how to introduce transpositions into your practice.  In this post I want to focus on how sharps, flats and enharmonic equivalents can spell unexpected trouble.

Even though modern bassoons have evolved from the mid 19^th century to live happily in the ever-increasing complexities of chromatic harmony, much of their DNA is rooted in their original designs.  The earlier generations of players and instruments found much of their musical landscapes in the ‘flat’ keys: C, F, Bb, Eb etc.  The ‘sharp’ keys of G, D, A etc came a bit later, coinciding with the gradual addition of more keys.

Why on earth does any of this matter?  We all understand enharmonic equivalents and we also understand that the notes we usually call by their “sharp” or “flat” descriptions are not necessarily sharper or flatter in terms of intonation.

Or are they?

In case you’ve been wondering, that brief excerpt at the top of this article is the bassoon solo in the Adagio of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.  I always loved playing that solo, so dark and grounded and evocative.

The damn thing is in D flat minor.

Did you study basic harmony in college?  If so, you probably had no experience with Db minor, because it’s relegated to the small category of ‘theoretical keys’. It’s certainly a rare sighting in the wild.  Db minor has a relative major of Fb, which has 7 flats and one double flat in the key signature.  Mahler used Db minor a couple of times for brief moments in both the 4^th and 5^th symphony and even Verdi resorted to the key in a couple of arias.

However,.when composers wanted this sound  they wrote in C# minor, 99.99999% of the time.  You’ve learned C# minor scales – and hopefully you practice them.  I trust you also work on F# minor scales?  Thankfully nobody expects you to practice Gb minor – five flats and two double flats there.  [You’re also generally spared practicing A# major…]  By the way, don’t blame me for those occasionally highly chromatic passages in the Milde Etudes.  You just have to work your way through with enharmonic equivalents sometimes!

But I find it’s a whole different experience!

I sometimes ask advanced students to play these scales back to back and I can promise you that they always sound different.  How on earth is that possible?  They are enharmonic equivalents!  They use the same fingerings on the same bassoon!!  They MUST sound they same, but they don’t.

Why? Because the psychology of raising a note to a sharp or dropping it to a flat almost always encourages a slight change in the physiology of embouchure and oral cavity.  Air support in a flat key frequently feels more connected to the ground.  Shoulders tend not to rise when we lower a note.  And when we ascend in a flat key we tend not to stretch tuning upward.

‘Flats’ intuitively lead to a darker sound for wind players than ‘sharps’.  This is a tendency that is far more pronounced for bassoonists for the reasons I explained in the opening paragraphs; so many of our key evolutions were based on adding a sharpening mechanism to an earlier design and something in our troglodyte fagott DNA lives on.

[To be clear, I’m not addressing the subtle adjustments in intonation that we might employ for major thirds or leading tones.  There are certainly some remnants of those requirements on some bassoons: if you have an extra tone hole on the boot for back G# you can certainly use that to raise the leading tone in A major much more successfully than the front Ab.  By the way, low Ab is acoustically one of these lease upwardly mobile notes on the bassoon; it’s usually hard to play it sharp. It’s one of the great features of Db minor, a well anchored dominant!]

…Once again, here is the excerpt as it originally appears.

Ask yourself how these four different versions affect your sound, intonation, legato and emotional response. The two enharmonic equivalents ought to sound the same, but do they?  For me, there is a subtle but very different outcome achieved in Mahler’s original tonality.  Explore the whole range of the bassoon with these alternative key signatures; the fingerings might be the same, but you will likely react to the music in two different ways!