Laurence Perkins, Manchester Camerata & Douglas Boyd - Bassoon Concertos: Michael Haydn, Mozart, Stamitz & Weber (2024) [Hi-Res]

In 1932 Sacheverell Sitwell wrote 'No composer has ever understood the qualities of individual instruments as did Mozart ... with the bassoon, it is like a Sea-god speaking'. And yet Mozart was just eighteen years of age when he wrote this highly imaginative concerto, and it is the only one of three he composed for bassoon to survive. M. Haydn's Concertino further explores the instrument's lyrical qualities, and Stamitz displays a gift for melodic charm and inventiveness, of which his Concerto in F major is a good example, relying more on melody than virtuosic display. Weber's Op 35 began life as a viola solo with orchestra and is Hungarian in flavour, and his Concerto in F major is unerringly cheerful throughout. This highly enjoyable disc ebbs and flows through a medley of melodies, interspersed with moments of calm tranquility and utmost beauty, giving Laurence Perkins the opportunity to prove he is master of the Sea-God of the instrument world.