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.

A set of four short and simple but wonderfully melodic pieces for the intermediate Bassoon soloist. Ideally suited to be performed as a set of four the pieces can be played individually making them perfect for early concerts festivals and recitals or just as a satisfying addition to your first repertoire.

Herbert Howells (1892-1983) was an English composer and teacher who is perhaps best known for his choral music in the Anglican tradition most famously his voluminous settings of the evening canticles.Minuet was composed in 1945 for solo Bassoon with Piano accompaniment. It was written for the birthday of Hugh Crosthwaite an English academic and amateur bassoonist who was studying at that time at Cambridge where Howells was working as an acting Organist for the duration of the war. It is subtitled Grace for a Fresh Egg; i.e. a thanksgiving for what was a rarity in wartime Britain.