Mozart, Weber & Du Puy: Bassoon Concertos Bram van Sambeek, Swedish Chamber Orchestra & Alexei Ogrintchouk

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, K 191:
• 1 Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, K 191: I. Allegro 07:11
• 2 Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, K 191: II. Andante ma Adagio 06:16
• 3 Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, K 191: III. Rondo 03:52
• Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826): Bassoon Concerto in F Major, Op. 75, J. 127:
• 4 Bassoon Concerto in F Major, Op. 75, J. 127: I. Allegro ma non troppo 08:04
• 5 Bassoon Concerto in F Major, Op. 75, J. 127: II. Adagio 04:29
• 6 Bassoon Concerto in F Major, Op. 75, J. 127: III. Rondo 04:23
• Édouard Du Puy (1770 - 1822): Bassoon Concerto in C Minor:
• 7 Bassoon Concerto in C Minor: I. Adagio non troppo - Allegro moderato 13:00
• 8 Bassoon Concerto in C Minor: II. Adagio 06:58
• 9 Bassoon Concerto in C Minor: III. Rondo 10:19
• Total Runtime 01:04:32

Info for Mozart, Weber & Du Puy: Bassoon Concertos

As Bram van Sambeek writes in the liner notes to his new disc, bassoonists consider Mozart's Concerto in B flat major the absolute pinnacle of their repertoire. A man of great contrasts himself, Mozart recognised the potential of the bassoon as a vehicle for expressing a wide range of moods and attitudes - from the joking and playful to the dreamily tuneful. Another composer who showed a special understanding for the instrument was Carl Maria von Weber, whose Concerto in F major doesn't come far behind Mozart's on the list of all-time bassoon hits. But as all bassoonists would agree, that list is on the short side - compared to the piano or the violin, the bassoon has been sadly underused by composers.

How much easier then to imagine van Sambeek's excitement when, by chance, he came across an unknown bassoon concerto. From a library in Stockholm he had requested a quintet for bassoon and strings by the Swiss-born, Swedish based singer-conductor-composer and jack-of-most-trades Édouard Du Puy (c. 1770-1822) but, by mistake, he was sent a copy of the autograph manuscript for Du Puy's 'Concerto pour le Basson' in C minor. Recognising the importance of the discovery, van Sambeek organised for a modern edition to be made. Describing it as 'a work which deserves a place amongst the few important bassoon concertos that we have', he has now chosen to present it to the world alongside Mozart and von Weber, with spirited support from the acclaimed Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by his colleague and long-time collaborator, the oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk.

Bram van Sambeek, bassoon
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Alexei Ogrintchouk, conductor

Bram van Sambeek
(1980) was the first bassoonist ever to receive the highest Dutch Cultural Award in 30 years: The Dutch Music Prize, handed out to him personally by Minister of Culture Ronald Plasterk in 2009. On this occasion, Bram played the bassoon concerto by Gubaidulina with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and chief conductor Seguin. De Telegraaf newspaper wrote about this performance: “He uses his instrument freely as a mouthpiece, conjures the finest timbres, and is technically capable of doing anything.” In 2011 he won a Borletti Buitoni Trust Award, and he has been admitted to The Chamber Music Society Two programme of New York’s Lincoln Center. In 2018 Bram won the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award for the premiere recordings of the bassoon concertos by Kalevi Aho and Sebastian Fagerlund.

Bram van Sambeek performs regularly as a soloist with orchestras such as the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, The Gothenborg Symphony, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony, and the South Netherlands Philharmonic. Many composers, such as Vanessa Lann and Sebastian Fagerlund, have written concertos for him.

From 2002 until 2011 Bram was Principal Bassoonist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2009 he has been teaching the bassoon at the Conservatories in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague. Last season he started a professorship exclusively at the Hochschule für Music und Tanz in Cologne. Bram has taught masterclasses at schools like Bloomington Indiana, the Royal College of London, and the Conservatory of Busan, Korea.

He played regularly as a Guest Principal with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician he has worked with Alexei Ogrintchouk, Jörg Widmann, Reto Bieri, Clara Andradas de la Calle, Hervé Joulain, Radovan Vlatkovich, Liza Ferschtman, Christoph Pregardien, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicolas Altstaedt and Rick Stotijn. In 2010 Bram was offered a Carte Blanche series in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and in 2015 he received a “Wild Card” consisting of many adventurous concerts at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, also in Amsterdam. He is a regular guest at festivals like the Delft Chamber Music Festival, Storioni Festival, Orlando Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and has investigated concert practice in cooperation with Radio Kootwijk Live, experimenting with innovations such as playing people to sleep.

Bram is very much interested in playing any style he likes, which leads him to work with rock musicians like Sven Figee in Konzerthaus Berlin, Jazz musicians like Joris Roelofs at the famous North Sea Jazz Festival, Arabic musicians like Kinan Azmeh in the Newlands Festival, and improvisers like Ernst Glerum in the “Apples and Olives” festival in Zürich.

Bram decided to start playing the bassoon when he was ten years old, beginning his studies with Fred Gaasterland and continuing later with Joep Terwey and Johan Steinmann at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. After his graduation, he took private lessons with Gustavo Núñez. In addition, he has participated in masterclasses with Brian Pollard and two of the most important bassoon soloists in the world: Klaus Thunemann and Sergio Azzolini. Bram also plays on a very special bassoon, an instrument that has been played for many years by both these musicians.

About working together with Bram, Yannick Nézet-Séguin remarked in a television interview available at www.bramvansambeek.com: “I think he is able to fall in love with many aspects of the music, and doesn’t set himself too many boundaries.” In another interview about Bram, Valery Gergiev remarked: “…all in all a combination of being artistically involved, motivated and being gifted, being a very nice person, and also being a little bit unusual!”

On his debut cd with Brilliant Classics, called ‘Bassoon Concertos’, he presented a very accessible programme of bassoon concertos by Vivaldi, Du Puy, Villa Lobos, and Olthuis, receiving rave reviews like this remark in the Dutch music magazine Luister: “Judging by his playing, Mr van Sambeek awaits a golden future.” In march 2012, Brilliant Classics released his second cd “Bassoon-Kaleidoscope,” which includes different chamber music pieces, as well as a rock song. In 2015-2016 Bram has performed the two new bassoon concertos by Sebastian Fagerlund and Kalevi Aho and recorded them for the BIS label with whom he has an on-going cooperation.

Last year he was the spokesman of the “Save the bassoon” campaign set up by the Holland Festival. This lead to a lot of international attention and publicity for the instrument in the London Times, the Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung and played on many television shows.

Booklet for Mozart, Weber & Du Puy: Bassoon Concertos