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 is also 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 first performance 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 Middle Eastern- 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 octaves above the official limit of the instrument's register. The title Sunset Song was inspired by California's sunsets and the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean. / Basson Et Piano

Par HERPAY AGNES. Comprising four printed books and rich digital material, the Bassoon ABC is a modern and innovative instrumental method by Ágnes Herpay, a successful Hungarian bassoonist and teacher. The method itself comprises two volumes (Z. 20092, Z. 20093), while piano accompaniments have been published in two further volumes Z. 20092P, Z. 20093P). Sound recordings of all pieces in the Bassoon ABC are available online at Digikotta free of charge using the individual code in the printed book. In the case of pieces with piano accompaniment and those for two or three bassoons, the voices can also be played individually, which can be very helpful in music education if no chamber-music partner or accompanist is available. The Bassoon ABC is also suitable for students learning tenoroon (in F or G) or fagonello (bassoonello) because transposed versions of the recordings and the sheet music are also available at Digikotta. (Transposed sheet music of the piano accompaniments can be downloaded at Digikotta free of charge using the individual code in the printed piano accompaniment.) / Date parution : 2022-10-12/ Méthode / Basson et Piano