Frank Morelli - Baroque Fireworks: Telemann, Vivaldi & Zelenka (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.

For this recording, a bassoon rather than the cello was employed as the basso continuo instrument in combination with the harpsichord, except in the Zelenka Trio, where the composer specified a violone as one of the instruments of choice. Accordingly, the modern double bass was employed.