CD Review | Works for the Bassoon by Māori Composers (WSU Recordings Label, 2023)

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WSU Recordings Label
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Works for the Bassoon by Māori Composers
Jacqueline Wilson, bassoon; Sophia Tegart, flute; Fabio Menchetti, piano
WSU Recordings Label, 2023

This album by WSU faculty members Jacqueline Wilson (bassoon), Sophia Tegart (flute) and Fabio Menchetti (piano) features works by Maori composers. The collection follows Wilson’s earlier recording featuring music by Indigenous composers. On the program are works written for the instrument by Gillian Whitehead, Takarei Komene, Phil Brownlee and Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, who Wilson met on a trip to New Zealand—a country very attentive to Maori culture. From a musical point of view, two characteristics are striking when listening: the originality of the proposed repertoire, and the cohesion between the musicians, who sound decidedly well-balanced.

The album opens with Takarei Komene’s Ngā Rhiwa O Taranaki. An assertive introduction of the piano is followed by meditative and melancholic exchanges, well-executed and rendered with a very appropriate placidity. Listeners then discover a solo bassoon piece written for Wilson herself in 2022, Philip Brownlee’s The Habits of Leaves. The atmosphere and title of the piece refer to a work by the master of surrealism, Max Ernst, who created a series of collotypes entitled Natural History, of which the work is a part. The absolute stillness of the piece feels perfectly aligned with Ernst’s work.

Charles Royal’s Whakaaro is a great example of the musical collaboration between bassoon and piano on this record. The dialogue between Menchetti’s piano and Wilson’s bassoon renders a balanced and narrative atmosphere, never tense or unbalanced, which does justice to the meditative quality of the title. The pieces evoke a landscape, which flows in a great sonic pleasantness.

In the solo bassoon suite Nga Ha O Nehera (A breath from the past), inspired by New Zealand landscapes, Wilson demonstrates instrumental control and an understanding of the repertoire’s cultural references.

The recording closes with Venetian Mornings, for flute, bassoon and piano, and inspired by the iconic Italian city. The piece envelops the listener in a mysterious, almost cinematic ambience. Menchetti and Tegart create a kaleidoscope of sound words that summarize this project. A very original, well-made album.