COMPOSER : Alexandra Lehmann

Bassoon’s Amazing Americas Tour

Bassoon's Amazing Americas Tour

The year 2020 will be infamously recorded as a time when musicians had to lead a solitary life, which is incompatible with musical activity.

Furthermore, travel has been severely restricted, having a devastating impact on performers’ lives. So, I decided to compose pieces for solo bassoon.

1. Hearty Hoedown

Bassoon plays at a lively, social, rural gathering; a ‘hoedown’; for cowboys and girls. Yeeha!

2. Barcarolle Blues

On the 18th of December 1865, the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery in USA) was officially adopted into the Constitution.

Bassoon is on a boat sailing the Mississippi with former slaves travelling further north in hope of a better life.

As the river gently sways the traumatised passengers, they find solace in music-making.

3. Kindred Klezmer

Bassoon is playing for Ashkenazi (West and East European) Jews dancing fervently and with joy as a community.

4. Carnival Calypso

Further south, in 1834, Bassoon is playing at a carnival competition in Trinidad, celebrating the abolition of slavery.

It is in call (the lead singer)-and-response (the rest of the group) form. The chariot passes through cheering crowds, and trundles merrily into the distance.

5. Tantalising Tango

Bassoon is at a dance theatre in downtown Buenos Aires, playing an intense, and moody tango. Couples dance in a passionate and powerful embrace.

6. Hallowed Harawi of the Incas

The Incas are no more, like so many indigenous peoples of the Americas. Bassoon plays an Incan Harawi, a love song, as their spirit still echoes across the valleys, mountains, forests, and rivers that nurtured them in ancient times.