Bassoon and Piano-Sunset Song op.42 for bassoon and piano was written and premiered in 1994 at the Los Angeles Museum of Art Bing Theatre. It is the composer´s second large work featuring the bassoon as soloist (after Hexen) and like Hexen it isalso dedicated to bassoonist Judith Farmer who premiered it with the composer at the piano.Sunset Song is technically a tour de force for both the bassoon and the piano. It is happy sensuous obsessive and at times mocking - often reflecting the time in which it was written and the events of a Mexico tour that followed the firstperformance during which the piece underwent revisions. The piece starts with an introduction played by the bassoon almost entirely. This introduction uses elements of 1950s pop music. A middle section follows where a static -almost MiddleEastern- ostinato rhythmic pattern beats with increasing tension. This pattern is then transformed to a Latin beat which finally returns the piece to the opening mood. The bassoon ends the piece in an irreverent tone with a pitch written two octavesabove the official limit of the instrumentâ??s register. The title Sunset Song was inspired by Californiaâ??s sunsets and the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean.

12 Popular Works-12 popular works for Bassoon with Piano accompaniment featuring selected works from the major exam board syllabuses spanning Grades 5 to 8 and beyond. Includes pull-out part and performance notes by Amy Harman.

Internationally acclaimed French composer Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) followed the music traditions of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy yet implemented his own distinctive style. His Sarabande et Cortege for Bassoon and Piano displays influences of Debussy's eschewing of tonality and Ravel's inventive textures. These combined with Dutilleux's unique uses of structure and pedal points create a truly riveting piece for Bassoon and Piano. Sarabande et Cortege comes at the beginning of Dutilleux's career and was composed as part of a set of fourexam pieces for the Paris Conservatoire (1942-1950). Yet the popularity of all four pieces remains and they continue to be performed to this day. Elements like lyrical melodies and furious semiquaver passages make for an exciting piece for bassoonists.

Charles Gounod’s March of a Marionette is a popular piece composed in 1872. It is a mock funeral march with a jaunty and light-hearted tune and inappropriate rhythms which create a humorous and carefree character or mood. It was adopted by film director Alfred Hitchcock in the 1950s as a theme for his television programme and as such is now closely associated with him. This version is for Bassoon with Piano accompaniment arranged by Harold Walters.

Basson Et Piano - Lm010-French composer and student of Darius Milhaud Pierre-Max Dubois was born on March 1st 1930. Although not as popular as his teacher he was well respected and continued the musical ideas of Les Six of which Milhaud was of course a member into the second half of the twentieth century even winning the Prix de Rome in 1955. Dubois' music is a lot like that of Milhauds light hearted harmonic melodical and texturally unusual. Many of his works are for woodwind especially saxophone such as his Quartet for Saxophone in F which was premiered in 1962 or the Pieces characteristiques en forme de suite for alto saxophone and piano accompaniment.