Bassoon and Piano-Sunset Song op.42 for bassoon and piano was written and premiered in 1994 at the Los Angeles Museum of Art Bing Theatre. It is the composer´s second large work featuring the bassoon as soloist (after Hexen) and like Hexen it isalso dedicated to bassoonist Judith Farmer who premiered it with the composer at the piano.Sunset Song is technically a tour de force for both the bassoon and the piano. It is happy sensuous obsessive and at times mocking - often reflecting the time in which it was written and the events of a Mexico tour that followed the firstperformance during which the piece underwent revisions. The piece starts with an introduction played by the bassoon almost entirely. This introduction uses elements of 1950s pop music. A middle section follows where a static -almost MiddleEastern- ostinato rhythmic pattern beats with increasing tension. This pattern is then transformed to a Latin beat which finally returns the piece to the opening mood. The bassoon ends the piece in an irreverent tone with a pitch written two octavesabove the official limit of the instrumentâ s register. The title Sunset Song was inspired by Californiaâ s sunsets and the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean.
