Sound and Music

This is the first of a planned series of postings talking to professional players about their experiences of playing new music. These are not new-music specialists, but players who have played enough new pieces to offer an interesting perspective and useful advice to composers.

I'll be asking three main questions:

1. Can you tell me a contemporary piece you have enjoyed playing recently?

2. What tips would you give to a composer to get the performers onside? (These could be technical things, or matters of presentation, or whatever.)

3. Which composers write well for your instrument?

First I talked to the excellent bassoonist Graham Hobbs.

What new music have you enjoyed playing recently? 'There was a collaboration between the London Chamber Orchestra and the National Gallery I was involved in. The composers had a workshop led by composer Graham Fitkin and then a concert performance. THere was a good sense of co-operation between players and composers.'

What are your tips for composers? 'Sort your parts out. If it looks from a part like the composer can't be bothered then why should we? And don't trust Sibelius. Although it will extract your parts, they still need editing and cueing or they will be a mess.

Do you notice recurring weaknesses in new music that you play? 'In orchestras we find we have the same piece written over and over again. It's a case of 'who wrote this before?' There may be lovely moments of orchestral colour but it's not enough to sustain a whole piece. There needs to be a sense of direction, a narrative arc.'

Who are the masters of writing for bassoon? 'Look at Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. And Mozart is the most fun - he writes beautiful bassoon lines.'

And what are the common pitfalls composers fall into? 'The bassoon tends either to be underused or given something impossible - low notes at pianissimo or crazy flying around. Writing low for bassoon is fine if you want that particular colour, but not if you want to match the dynamic of a bass clarinet. It just won't happen! It's ok to write something difficult as long as there is a reward at the end - but if I'm going to practise something I want to feel it is worth it at the end. A good example is Tom Ades's America: A Prophecy which I did with the BBCSO. It was hard but it came together in rehearsal. It's a really good piece.'