Vivaldi - 5 Bassoon Concertos - Milan Turkovic, I Solisti Italiani

 

Release Date: August 31, 1993 Label: Denon Number of discs: 1 Composer:  Antonio Vivaldi Performer: Milan Turkovic cd info/ buy

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Milan Turković (born 1939) is an Austrian bassoonist who was born in Zagreb, Croatia but grew up in Vienna, Austria. He is considered one of the few internationally known soloists on his instrument. He was for many years the principal bassoon of the Vienna Symphony as well as a member of the period instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien. Turković is a member of the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, a woodwind quintet consisting of principal players of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center of New York. From 1984 until 1992, Turković was professor of bassoon at the Salzburg Mozarteum. From 1992 until 2003, he taught at the Musikhochschule (conservatory) in Vienna. Since then he has concentrated increasingly on conducting. Turković has performed as soloist with many important orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, English Concert, I Solisti Italiani, Camerata Academica Salzburg, NHK Symphony Tokyo, under conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Carlo Maria Giulini, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Neville Marriner, Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Sandor Vegh, David Zinman, among others. His discography consists of 15 CDs of solo repertoire, 26 CDs of chamber music, and over 200 CDs as a member of Concentus Musicus. He has recorded the Mozart Bassoon Concerto four times, the third having been played on a period instrument, Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting. Turkovic's most recent releases include concerti of Weber with Marriner, five bassoon concerti by Vivaldi with I Solisti Italiani, and concerti of Christian Bach and Kozeluh.

 

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Fasch, Grаupner - Bassoon Concertos - Tоgnоn, Nemeth, Capella Savaria

 

 

Circumstantial evidence indicates that the baroque bassoon was a newly invented instrument, rather than a simple modification of the old dulcian. The dulcian was not immediately supplanted, but continued to be used well into the 18th century by Bach  and others. The man most likely responsible for developing the true bassoon was Martin Hotteterre (d.1712), who may also have invented the three- piece flûte traversière and the hautbois (oboe). Some historians believe that sometime in the 1650s, Hotteterre conceived the bassoon in four sections (bell, bass joint, boot and wing joint), an arrangement that allowed greater accuracy in machining the bore compared to the one-piece dulcian. He also extended the compass down to B♭ by adding two keys.  An alternate view maintains Hotteterre was one of several craftsmen responsible for the development of the early bassoon. These may have included additional members of the Hotteterre family, as well as other French makers active around the same time.  No original French bassoon from this period survives, but if it did, it would most likely resemble the earliest extant bassoons of Johann Christoph Denner and Richard Haka from the 1680s. Sometime around 1700, a fourth key (G♯) was added, and it was for this type of instrument that composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann and in this recording Graupner and Fasch wrote their demanding music.

CD INFO

 

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