Bassoon

The bassoon consists of two wooden tubes of different lengths connected at the lower part of the instrument (boot joint) and a mouthpiece in the form of a double reed placed on a curved tube (often silver or gold) in the shape of an 'S' called 'Es' (Bocal). The bassoonist uses all 10 fingers of both hands while playing, pressing keys and covering holes. The instrument's considerable weight requires it to be suspended with special harnesses (for both female and male versions - you can see what it's about in the videos), and stability is ensured by supporting the right hand on the 'hand rest'.
The bassoon has a strong, deep sound in the low and middle registers, while the high notes sound smooth, as if muted or 'forced'. Currently, the bassoon has a rather advanced key mechanism - in the past, there were much fewer keys, as can be seen in a recording of the concert 'la notte' performed on a Baroque instrument replica.
The bassoon rarely appears as a solo instrument, but is often found in orchestras and chamber ensembles (wind quintet) and is also present in jazz ensembles.
At CameralMusic, we present the bassoon in several selected versions.

Baroque: A.Vivaldi - Concerto in B flat major 'La notte'

Performed by: Nora Hansen on a Baroque bassoon, tuned lower than the contemporary bassoon and with a less advanced mechanism.

Classicism: W.A.Mozart - Concerto in B flat major (KV-191)

Performed by: Eduardo Calzada

Romanticism: Saint-Saens Sonata for bassoon and piano

Performed by: Aleksandr Popov

Contrabassoon - another octave lower and J.S.Bach suite

Jazz

Contemporary: Lady Gaga on bassoon

A bassoon quartet from New York shows the fun side of this instrument by performing pop music hits arranged for bassoon quartet with impressive choreography.

From the author

Here is a unique recording made the last time I had a bassoon in my hand, which was like... uu... 7 years ago ;] A.Vivaldi's B flat major Concerto, but not 'La notte', a different one (probably around 40 wrote), parts 1 and 2, because I didn't have the stamina for the 3rd part, recorded haphazardly after vacation without any greatness and of course a capella... ;]