Bassoons again...

A Noble Project

Laurence Perkins - former principal bassoon of the Manchester Camerata

Laurence Perkins is an active and enthusiastic ambassador for the bassoon. Not many students choose the bassoon as their instrument. The cost of an instrument can be an obstacle, and it is (let's face it) not the most extrovert and showy instrument in the orchestra. What's more it doesn't often play solos, so is seldom very visible.

However there is an impressive repertoire of wonderful solo works, and Laurence is making it his business to make sure they are heard and appreciated. Together with Hyperion he is recording two CDs of some of the most significant pieces. Please take a look at his site:

https://laurenceperkins.com/seagod-recording/?fbclid=IwAR26k5nLrOwLR45VSJufd1hpB5zuIbfj24f8ClwKpUF4w65fxfswkazW9yY

The bassoon is the good-natured philosopher of the orchestra. Although often at the middle or bottom of the harmonic structure, the bassoon adds warmth, stability, lyricism and character - and sometimes fun. When it has an orchestral solo it can often either make you laugh (Malcolm Arnold Scottish Dances) or break your heart (Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4). It is a most wonderful and rewarding instrument to play.

I am supporting Laurence in this project - I hope that you can too.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bassoon-recording

June Emerson

Michael Head

Michael Head

Michael Dewar Head (1900 - 1976)



As well as being a composer, singer and pianist, Michael Head was an examiner for the Associated Board. It was when he came to Ampleforth College to examine the music students that we first met him. We knew his lovely songs, and had recently heard Siciliana for oboe on the BBC. As well as offering hospitality we were definitely hoping to get our hands on this lovely piece!

I drove down to Ampleforth College to bring him up to our house. My son Daniel, aged about 9, was in the car with me.

'Now Mr. Head is quite an old man, and may be a bit deaf. When you speak to him try to speak very clearly,' I told him.

Michael got in the car, and I went back to the music department to get his suitcase. When I returned to the car he was roaring with laughter, and so was Daniel. Apparently Daniel had said, extremely distinctly 'I think you are the oldest man I have ever seen.'

Our relationship was very warm from then on (thank you Daniel!) and we not only acquired his lovely Sicilana, but also a very striking song The World is Mad, for voice, clarinet and piano, and three other works including oboe and bassoon.
Geoffrey asked his advice on adjudicating, as he had his first engagement coming up. Michael said that however awful the playing, it was important always to say something nice - even if it was just to compliment them on the way they walked on to the stage.

That first meeting was on March 10th 1976. In April I sent him the Louis MacNeice poem that eventually became The World is Mad. During the following couple of months several other works arrived. On August 3rd he wrote from Bulawayo, South Africa, where he was not only examining for the AB but also singing his songs at recitals, including The World is Mad - ink still wet on the paper.

You can imagine our shock when, on August 24th, we heard that he had died suddenly in Cape Town. It was peritonitis - he had not reached a hospital soon enough.

June Emerson

Siciliana - oboe & piano

Three Hill Songs - oboe & piano

Three Fantastic Pieces - bassoon & piano

Trio - oboe, bassoon & piano

The World is Mad - mezzo, clarinet & piano

Michael Head: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Head_(composer)