00:00 - I. Allegro
07:31 - II. Larghetto
15:35 - III. Allegro assai
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Bassoon: Milan Turković
Orchestra: Budapest Strings
Year of Recording: 1996
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"For the well-known bassoon concerto in C major, Jan Anton Kozeluch's authorship is fully authenticated by a set of orchestral parts in the Library of the Prague National Museum bearing the inscription "Concerto per il Fagotto Principale del Sige. giov. Ant. Kozeluch. The piece evidently dates from the late 1760s since the expressive slow movement still bears clear traces of the influence of the older generation, namely, Hasse, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Franz Bende, who was Frederick the Great's Bohemian concertmaster.

The violins open the second movement on their G-string with what appears to be a long and expressive melody fully of suspensions. Despite its arching lines, it remains in the instruments' lower register - a typical cantabile in the style of Hasse. The bassoon takes up this emotionally charged melody and guides it through several episodes, the last of which starts in the sombre key of F minor. The radiant opening movement also has a subdued second subject in C minor, a feature frequently found in Bend'a violin concertos. The final movement is not yet cast in rondo form but in Italian ritornello form. These are the hallmarks of the sort of solo concertos that were being written before 1770. (SONY Classical)
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