Denisov: Five Etudes

This long and challenging piece, composed in 1983 and dedicated to Valery Popov, is contained in a collection of Works by Soviet Composers for Solo Bassoon, Installment I, compiled by Popov, and also in two anthologies edited by Dieter Hähnchen: Music and Playing Techniques of the 20^th Century and Zeitgenössische Musik für Fagott solo, both also published by Deutscher Verlag.  The music is atonal, and is based throughout on two motives, one angular and the other very conjunct.  The range extends to E5 and the fourth movement includes multiphonics, which are notated both with fingerings and sounding pitches, a good idea since the given fingerings often are unreliable and the prospective performer will need to experiment to match the desired pitches. These fingerings have been taken from Bruno Bartolozzi’s seminal book New Sounds for Woodwind (London: Oxford University Press, 1967) and/or Sergio Penazzi’s Metodo per Fagotto (Milan: Ricordi, 1972).  No other extended techniques are called for.