BAROQUE
FIREWORKS
TELEMANN, VIVALDI & ZELENKA
FRANK MORELLI &
Friends
Stephen Taylor
& Randall Wolfgang oboes
Susan Palma-Nidel & Marya
Martin flutes
Harry Searing basso continuo (bassoon)
Donald
Palma double bass ~ Kenneth Cooper harpsichord
MS1109 ~ $14.95
"...sparkling...the
ensemble sets a tone of warmth and good humor...This reading of [Zelenka] is already my favorite recording of this work...the performances are
characterized by an operatic lyricism and interpretive freedom...Morelli has
set a new standard of playing that will undoubtedly influence generations to
come."
THE DOUBLE REED, WINTER 2005
"Many
recordings have been made of concertos and sonatas from this period, but none
have been as appealing to me as this one. This is a perfect marriage of 18th
Century composition, scholarship and musicianship. [The recording] is sure to sparkle for
years to come."
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE,
JANUARY FEBRUARY 2005
"an attractive program of sonatas...Morelli swings through a 69-minute program in which you cease to be
aware of the passage of time while the gorgeous music pours into your ears.
Kudos also for the recorded sonics...They have a nice spatial quality that
allows us to hear all the instruments in true perspective..."
ATLANTA
AUDIO SOCIETY, DECEMBER 2004
*
* *
At the dawn of the
Baroque era, Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli and his followers developed the
concertato style of composition. One result of this innovation was to
encourage composers throughout Europe to explore the expressive and technical
solo possibilities of instruments like the bassoon, which had traditionally been
relegated to
non-solo roles. More than a century later, late Baroque masters Antonio Vivaldi,
Georg Philipp Telemann and Jan Dismas Zelenka, all born within a three-year
span, composed some of the finest and most challenging music ever written for
the bassoon in this vein.
Introduced
to the bassoon while in public school, Frank
Morelli studied
at the Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of
Music, and was the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by Juilliard. He
has more than 140 recordings for major labels to his credit, including an
acclaimed Mozart Bassoon Concerto on Deutsche Grammophon and "Shadow Dances"
which won a 2001 Grammy. Morelli has made eight appearances as a soloist in
Carnegie Hall and has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
on numerous occasions, including at the Whitehouse for the final state dinner of
the Clinton presidency. A member of the renowned quintet, Windscape, he also serves on the
faculties of the Juilliard, Yale and SUNY Stony Brook, and is principal bassoonist of the
New York City Opera Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the American
Composers Orchestra.
