Simon Van Holen - Pro Contra! (2016)

An unusual disc devoted to the bassoon and contrabassoon, 'Pro Contra!' features music by Mozart, Kees Olthuis, Franz Krommer, Erwin Schulhoff and Jean Françaix, performed by Belgian Simon van Holen, contrabassoonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Van Holen, a world-beater for sheer virtuosity and singing ability on his instruments, is accompanied on this stunning recording by string players, also from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Even following the instrument's wave of emancipation last century, the very first composition ever published for solo contrabassoon, 'Bassnachtigall' (1922) by Erwin Schulhoff, is still something of a rarity, and sounds serious and droll at the same time. It takes the merest whiff of the frivolous elegance in Mozart's Sonata, KV292 to be enchanted by how the composer allows the bassoon to sing. The Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet (1942) by Jean Françaix is a telling example of French 'joie de vivre': lively, whimsical, waspish and brimming with rhythmic subtleties. The Quartet, op. 46 no. 1 (1804) by Franz Krommer is a gallant and dashing work with a contrasting touch of melancholy in its andante.