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CHAMBER REVIEW
Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series / Sunday, October 10, 2010
Rebecca Rust, cello
Friedrich Edelman, bassoon

Friedrich Edelman and Rebecca Rust

RICH BASSOON SOUNDS CHARM AT GUALALA ARTS SERIES CONCERT

by Iris Lorenz-Fife
Sunday, October 10, 2010

The audience at Sunday's Gualala Arts chamber concert might have given an extra round of applause to the Music Committee for their sense of adventure. Their courage in presenting a trio of bassoon, cello and piano was well rewarded by the music making of Friedrich Edelmann, Rebecca Rust and Dmitriy Cogan.

You could say the genesis of this concert occurred more than 34 years ago when Bay Area native Rebecca Rust won a scholarship to play in a youth orchestra in Belgium. She met and married Friedrich Edelmann, (who was principal bassoonist at the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra from 1977 to 2004) and they have enjoyed exploring the bassoon-cello repertoire ever since. Meanwhile Russian-born Dmitriy Cogan immigrated to the United States in 1974 and is now a Bay Area resident and San Francisco Conservatory faculty member. That Cogan is clearly no stranger to the bassoon-cello-piano repertoire was demonstrated by the ease with which the trio performed together.

For me, and I suspect for most of the audience, being this close to a bassoon was a new experience. While there are bassoon solos in the orchestral repertoire, there are not many opportunities for an up close experience of the range of sound or the flexibility of this long, skinny, instrument.

When asked how the bassoon had survived when so many of the instruments of the 17th century have disappeared, Edelmann gave credit to the masters, Beethoven and Mozart in particular, for liking the bassoon's sound so much that they included it in many of their best orchestral works.

Our first opportunity to hear the bassoon's distinctive sound came with the Suite for Cello, Bassoon and Piano by Jean Baptiste Loeillet de Ghent. Throughout the four movements, from a stately Allemande to a sprightly Gigue, the bassoon added a smooth under-tone. In the Allemande and Minuetto the bassoon was so much softer than the piano, or the over-loud cello, that its contribution was quite subtle. With the Sarabande I heard the bassoon like cream filling in all the open spaces between the notes of the cello and piano's confection.

Next, an entertaining performance of Beethoven's Seven Variations On A Theme from Mozart's Magic Flute, in E-flat Major, Op. 9, from 1801. In this cello and piano work the musical conversation between Rust's and Cogan's instruments echoed the opera's exchange on love between Pamina and Papageno in the opera.

Mikhail Glinka's “Trio Pathétique” for cello, bassoon and piano (1832) brought us to intermission. The opening Allegro moderato was started decisively by all three instruments, preceding a short bassoon solo. Through the Scherzo, a long Largo movement and the short Allegro con spirit all three instrumentalists had opportunities to reveal their prowess. There were humorous musical comments, spirited interactions, and serene moments. The bassoon was revealed as having a smooth top, growly bass, subtle tremolos and a range of emotions from quite gentle to most emphatic.

Post intermission opened with Czech composer Otmar Mácha's musical portrait of a competition between Apollo and the satyr Marsyas. The six minute piece was composed for Ms. Rust and Mr. Edelmann and inspired by a Titian painting depicting (we were told) the moment when Apollo is about to strike down Marsyas for "winning" with more beautiful music from his pipe that Apollo could produce with a stringed instrument. Moral: never challenge the gods unless you are willing to lose. Mácha decided to avoid all possibility of a gory end, and the result was an entertaining exploration of the two instruments' highs, lows, flexibility, and ability to hold a melodic line. The music won. Perhaps fittingly, bassoon and bassoonist retired after that victory and the finale eschewed the unusual.

Richard Strauss' romantic Sonata in F Major for cello and piano (1880 and 1883) opened with an Allegro con brio movement that didn't come off as well as Strauss could have expected. Ms. Rust's cello was too soft and her touch tentative. However, with the Andante ma non troppo (second movement) Ms. Rust was clearly transported by the music and her playing equaled Mr. Cogan's through the final Allegro vivo. Mr. Cogan was the perfect partner with a light but intense touch on the keys, dexterous, and swift where needed. These last two movements were Strauss at his best, wonderfully complex and melodic.

Despite the attention-getting novelty of the bassoon, the last word must go to Mr. Cogan. Quite simply I have seldom heard our concert grand piano sound as clear and beautiful. While some of the credit must go to Will Reed for his care of the piano, Cogan did more than prove himself a master of the instrument, he elevated its quality.