Chacontango

'Chacontango is an original work, my tribute to the great Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzolla. It reflects his wonderful dance rhythms and harmonies, combining these with aspects of an 18th-centuryChaconne - a theme and variations over a repeated descending bass line, though this particular ‘chaconne’ is not in the traditional 3/4 time. This version of Chacontango - scored for five Bassoonsand Contrabassoon - offers the option of either the entire piece played as a solo (1st Bassoon) with the other players accompanying, or as shared solos between those of the five Bassoonists who would like to play solos! If anyBassoonist does not wish to play a solo, your solo part is cued into the 1st bassoon part, and you can play the ‘tutti’ part at that point.  The original version (for solo with pre-recorded Bassoon ensemblebacking) was written in 2015 and was one of the items in my solo programme with video, ‘Bassoon Voyager’. This toured extensively around the UK in the Autumn 2015 bassoon project, including performances at the RoyalCollege of Music in London, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Bristol University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.' - Laurence Perkins