00:00 - I. Allegro
07:36 - II. Largo
12:17 - III. Rondò (subito)
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Bassoon: Sergio Azzolini
Conductor: Georg Egger
Orchestra: Bozen String Academy
Year of Recording: 2001
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"Although its authorship is unconfirmed, the concerto has been attributed to Rossini on the basis of an obituary published in 1893 for Nazzareno Gatti (a bassoon student at the Liceo during the 1840s) who claimed the composer had written the work for him. More recently a priest, Giuseppe Gregiati, discovered the concerto amongst a collection of nineteenth-century manuscripts in a library near Mantua and, despite its annotation by several hands, credited the concerto to Rossini. The concerto may have been written around 1845 as a “concerto da esperimento” (an examination concerto) for Nazzareno Gatti and performed by him for his final test at the Liceo.
The work is in three movements: the first, (Allegro) in B flat major, opens with an energetic orchestral paragraph prior to the bassoon’s first entry, a declamatory theme that soon generates more mellifluous material. Hushed pizzicato chords usher in a cantabile secondary theme, its graceful contours soon yielding to livelier figuration. While fresh ideas are explored and earlier material is refashioned, it is with the arrival of some nimble passage work (and the bassoon’s high D flat) that this movement provides an opportunity for dramatic display. In a dramatic shift to an unexpected shift to the key of C minor, the central Largo inhabits a Mozartian eloquence, its gentle theme culminating in a brief cadenza which leads directly to an ebullient Rondo. The change of metre and key (F major) underpins an infectious humour in a movement that poses considerable technical challenges. Even if the authenticity of this concerto is uncertain there is little doubt as to the work’s rhythmic impetus and melodic charm." (NAXOS)
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