Search - Benkocs, Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia :: Vivaldi: Bassoon Concertos, Vol. 5

This May Be the Best One in This Series

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 12/31/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've fallen in love with Vivaldi bassoon concertos. For many years the only CD of any of these concertos that I owned -- Vivaldi wrote 39 of them! -- was one with the great bassoonist Klaus Thunemann. And I thought that was probably enough -- I had not been the greatest fan of Vivaldi generally -- but then this budget series on Naxos came along, featuring the young Hungarian bassoonist Tamás Benkócs, of whom I'd never heard before. And one by one these CDs have stolen my heart. There is something so light, merry, genial, casually virtuosic and winning about these works that I return to them again and again, particularly when I'm in a rotten mood. They always work to brighten my mood. So when this fifth in the series came out -- I figure there is one more before the series comes to an end -- it was a no-brainer to get it. And from the first note I was smitten all over again.



After an introduction reminiscent of The Four Seasons, the disc's first concerto -- in A Minor, RV 497 one of the ten minor key bassoon concerti Vivaldi wrote -- opens with such trippingly insouciant figures in the solo instrument that you have to put down whatever you're doing and LISTEN intently with dropped jaw. This is not only wonderful music, it is wonderful playing by Benkócs. My goodness, how does he do it? But there are also meltingly beautiful melodies, too, as in the Andante molto second movement.



And the set goes on from triumph to triumph. One real high point for me is the Minuetto, the final movement of the Concerto in C Major, RV 473. (How many other concerti can you name that END with a minuet?) It is an almost eight-minute set of variations in minuet style that features some of the most mind-blowing playing you can imagine. Its form is interesting, too, in that part of the movement is for bassoon and continuo alone, part of it for bassoon and full orchestra. What an inventive mind Vivaldi had!



The finale of the Concerto in F Major, RV 491, features some of Vivaldi's patented death-defying leaps by the solo instrument. And its Largo second movement is a slow motion moto perpetuo for the bassoon. (I know that sounds strange, but the point is that the bassoon plays a melody that is made up of uninterrupted sixteenth notes.)



And so it goes through the remaining three concerti on this disc. There are wide leaps, fast running passages, tongue-wearying staccato passages, pastoral arias for the soloist and more. Benkócs has convinced me he's one of the really great bassoonists. And I mustn't forget to praise the cleanly articulated and musical playing of the Nicolaus Eszterházy Sinfonia under their long-time conductor, Béla Drahos.



Another winner, perhaps the best in this marvelous series. Enthusiastically recommended.



Scott Morrison"