Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra B flat Major
Allegro 6:44; Andante ma adagio 6:16; Rondo. Tempo di Menuetto 4:31

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra no. 1 B flat Major
Allegro moderato 7:34; Adagio 7:47; Presto 5:57

Joseph Haydn
Symphonies A
Allegro 5:09; Andante 3:31; Allegro molto 3:35

and B
Allegro molto 2:56; Minuetto: Allegretto - Trio 4:26; Andante 4:36; Finale. Presto 2:17

Sergio Azzolini, Bassoon
Friedemann Wezel, Violin
il capriccio

The works selected for inclusion here each share a common feature; they repre-
sent the earliest efforts by two foremost masters of the Classical period in the genre
of Concerto and Symphony. We have here two of Mozart's earliest essays in solo
concerto form, while from Haydn, whose prodigious output of symphonies number
from 1 to 104, there are an additional early pair that have come to light in com-
paratively recent times. A special feature of these performances is that a bassoon
has been used to double the bass-line throughout - and that uniquely it is from this
instrument that they are all directed.

These days many recordings that purport to have been made on 'original instru-
ments' have in fact been made on modern reproductions. On this record we can
savour the sound of an authentic 'period' instrument built around the turn of the
18th and 19th century by Kaspar Tauber (1758 - 1831), a distinguished maker active
in Vienna from before 1794; some thirty of his bassoons and contrabassoons are
preserved today. These performances will be found to demonstrate how the addition
of a 'period' bassoon to the orchestral tutti will unobtrusively lend a subtle element
of body and clarity to the bass line.