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Melissa Bassoon Photo Recordings
Here are some recordings of my recent performances.  You can use the links below to play these recordings using your media player.

Fernande Decruck, Scherzo Fantasque
On June 3, 2017, I had the pleasure of performing the American premiere of Fernande Decruck's Scherzo Fantasque for Bassoon and Orchestra, with The Chelsea Symphony.  This is a recording of the live performance, and it is the only known recording in existence of this work.  I hope you love this new addition to the bassoon repertoire as much as I do.  I am thrilled to be a part of the project to bring light to Decruck's lost works, along with Reeds Amis and Matthew Aubin.

Play Decruck

Villa-Lobos, Ciranda das Sete Notas

This work by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos is single-movement work for solo bassoon with strings, performed here with piano accompaniment.  The work was premiered in 1933 in Rio de Janiero.  Many of the melodies are based on Brazilian folk tunes and dance genres.

Play Villa-Lobos

J.S. Bach, Cello Suite No. 4 in Eb Major, Prelude
Bach's Cello Suites are among his most frequently performed works, and have been adopted by many instruments.  

Play Bach

Lars Potteiger, Euphoric Waves
I performed the premiere of this work with the composer in April 2012.  It features improvised sections for both bassoon and piano and is inspired by a theme by Bartok.

Play Potteiger

John Williams, Five Sacred Trees

The Five Sacred Trees is a concerto written for bassoon and orchestra by John Williams.  The recording below features the fifth movement this work, titled Dathi.   This movement evokes a tree from Celtic mythology that was believed to be the source of all poetic inspiration.  The use of the solo bassoon, which resembles a tree, symbolizes the disappearing forests.  This recording is from a solo recital, performed with piano accompaniment by Rudolfs Ozolins.

Play Williams

Carl Maria von Weber, Concerto
This is a live recording of me performing Carl Maria von Weber's Konzert für Fagott und Orchester (Op. 75)with the Michigan State Philharmonic Orchestra.  Weber wrote this concerto in 1811 for Munich bassoonist Georg Friedrich Brandt.  The genesis of this work may have been influenced by an instruction book for instrumental and vocal conservatory study compiled by Joseph Fröhlich.

Play Weber

Chamber Music

I have worked with Matthew Aubin and members of the Chelsea Trio to revive long-lost reed trios by the French composer Fernande Decruck.  This is a performance of her work titled Variations en Trio sur l'air du P'tit Quinquin.  This work from 1935 is dedicated to Trio d'anches de Paris.

Play Decruck


I regularly perform with the internationally acclaimed New York-based reed ensemble Kammermusiker.  This is an excerpt from Henry Purcell's King Arthur Suite.

Play Purcell

This is a recording of
André Jolivet's Pastorales de Noël.  This recording features the third movement of the work, titled La Vierge et L'enfant.  This movement, a lullaby, depicts a scene from the Nativity. This recording features Flutist Sarah Miles and Harpist Yoojin Jung.

Play Jolivet

Michael Burns, Swamp Song
This excerpt features an improvised solo with tape accompaniment from Michael Burns's work for bassoon, Swamp Song.  The electronic accompaniment was generated entirely from bassoon recordings manipulated to create swamp-like timbres.

Play Burns
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