BCMCC

• Ciancaglini: Seikilos Quartet (excerpt)

“[Susan Nelson] does a fine job in this recording, with good dynamic contrasts and ensemble work... her intonation, articulation, and phrasing are excellent... The ensemble work is excellent, combining clarity, sensitivity, and zeal.”

Pfeil, American Record Guide [March/April 2016]

“... all [works] are noteworthy additions to the bassoon chamber music repertoire. That certainly would seem a remarkable start... [bassoonist Susan Nelson] clearly matches her predecessor’s commitment and flair, presenting each disparate work in this new release with perception, skill, and total conviction.”

Ronald E. Grames, Fanfare [July/August 2015]

“Nelson is a very fine performer who clearly knows how to get to the evocative heart of these works… Nelson’s handling of Colored Stones shows sensitivity both to the structure of the composer’s three-movement suite and to the capabilities of the instrument. Nelson also shows that she can blend very well with vocals, in Fire and Ice… What unites the works [on Elements] and makes all of them worthy of being heard, is Nelson’s smooth handling of the bassoon, her carefully controlled breath work, her ability to maintain a mellifluous line or produce a staccato one that dances about with élan.”

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad.com [June 2015]

“A truly great bassoonist is as rare as truly great music composed for the instrument, but MSR Classics' disc Elements benefits from the presence of both. The four composers whose music is featured on the disc...represent groundbreaking trends in contemporary composition for the bassoon. The nucleus of the musical atoms on Elements is bassoonist Susan Nelson, an artist whose musical curiosity is obviously almost as extensive as her talent. In the pieces on Elements, she proves herself the mistress of a wide array of styles and a musician with a tremendous gift for meaningful collaboration… Elements is hopefully the invigorating first step on a journey of exponentially increased recognition for this magnificent instrument... In the century-long history of recorded music, each decade has produced a handful of recordings via which the boundaries of instruments have been redefined by exceptional musicians. Joining Casals's and Milstein's Bach, Schnabel's Beethoven, and Segovia's Rodrigo, Susan Nelson enlarges and ennobles her instrument's presence on disc. In the case of Elements, this exceptional musician has opportunities to work not only with gifted colleagues but also with recent compositions that proclaim the bright future for contemporary music and that wonderful woodwind behemoth, the bassoon.”

Joey Newsome, Voix des Arts [May 2015]

The Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition (BCMCC) was founded in 2009 by Dr. Paula Brusky, and welcomed a new Director in 2013, Dr. Susan Nelson. The BCMCC encourages new music for the bassoon and offers opportunities to composers by holding a competition every other year for new compositions featuring the bassoon in a chamber music setting. The competition’s panel of judges, comprised of professional bassoonists, provides feedback to each participating composer. The BCMCC works with the winning composers to secure a music publisher, arrange for a premiere and create a professional recording of the winning pieces. Two chamber music competitions have been held thus far: 2010 and 2012. In 2014, the BCMCC partnered with the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition (MQVC), a performance competition for young women bassoonists of the Americas. A new competition was held in this year for a solo work by a female composer to be used in the 2016 MQVC competition. [ www.bassooncomp.org ]

Judges [2012 BCMCC Chamber Works]: Carolyn Beck, Michael Burns, Jefferson Campbell, Cynthia Cioffari, Monica Ellis, Judith Farmer, Lynn Hileman, Jeffrey McCray, Kathleen McLean, Maya Stone

Judges [2014 BCMCC Solo Work]: Gina Cuffari, Laura Koepke, Nicolasa Kuster, Kathleen Reynolds, Keith Sweger, Eric Van der Veer Varner
 
Susan Nelson enjoys an active career as a performer, teacher and clinician. An advocate for new music as well as chamber music for the bassoon, Dr. Nelson is the director of the non-profit organization Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition (BCMCC). In summer, she teaches at the Bocal Majority Bassoon Camp and Bowling Green State University’s Double Reed Camp. Nelson has performed with the annual Classical Music Festival in Austria, Michigan Opera Theater, and the symphony orchestras of Shreveport, Toledo, Oklahoma City, Ann Arbor and Helena, Montana. She taught at Adrian College in Michigan and Heidelberg College in Ohio, and was a member of the Heidelberg faculty wind quintet. In Montana, she held the position of principal bassoon in the Great Falls Symphony and was a member of the Chinook Winds quintet. A graduate of the University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma and University of Michigan, Nelson is currently Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Bowling Green State University.  [ www.susannelsonmac.com ] DAVID ANGELO CIANCAGLINI (b.1983)
SEIKILOS QUARTET for Oboe, Bassoon, Marimba and Piano (2012)
Nermis Mieses oboe
Susan Nelson bassoon
Jeffrey Barudin marimba
Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu piano

JENNI BRANDON (b.1977)
COLORED STONES for Solo Bassoon (2014)
Smoky Quartz
Lapis Lazuli
Tiger’s Eye
Susan Nelson bassoon

DEVIN FARNEY (b.1983)
FIRE AND ICE for Soprano, Bassoon and Piano (2012)
Jennifer Goode Cooper soprano
Susan Nelson bassoon
Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu piano

GREG STEINKE (b.1942)
SUSPENDED for Bassoon and Strings (2005)
Susan Nelson bassoon
Stephen Miahky violin
Christina McGann violin
Matthew Daline viola
Jacqueline Black cello



MSR Classics