ARPEGGIONE SONATE

ALM Records / ALCD-3043

1995 Digital Recording
1. F.Schubert Sonate D.821 "Arpeggione"
2. R.Schumann Fantasiestucke Op.73  
3. Mendelssohn Leid ohne Worte Op.109  
4. J.Brahms Sonate Es-Dur Op.120-2
Masahito Tanaka bassoon
Kazue kojima pianoforte
Press Quotes
I believe this CD is only available in Japan at the present. It is a pity, because it is another beauty by this master- bassoonist! The CD is all transcriptions of well known compositionssomething that I am often not convinced totally works. But Tanaka makes a believer out of me. His Schubert Arpeggione sounds like Schubert MUST have written it for the bassoon- it is so convincing! All I can say is WOW! Somehow he makes all that figuration sound right on the bassoon and not just a bunch of string filigree! The other works on the CD: the Schumann Fantasiestucke, Op. 73; the Mendelssohn Lied ohne Worte, Op. 109; and the Brahms Sonata in E flat Major, Op. 120- 2; are also played with beautiful romantic elan and expression.
As with the previous CD, the balance and presence are superb! It sounds like you are sitting in the best seat in a concert hall listening to these performers. With the amazing difference one can find between recordings of bassoonists, it would be a wonderful thing if recording and sound engineers like Yukio Kojima and Tagato Yanagisawa, who are responsible for this and the previous recording would reveal their "secrets" to other aspiring bassoon recording artists! Both these discs could serve as landmark examples!
( The Double Reed VOL. 20, NO. 2, 1997) U.S.A