Description
Although his concerto output is dominated by the 27 piano concertos, Mozart was fascinated by the possibilities of individual instruments and wrote concertos for many of them, including the flute, the clarinet, the horn and the bassoon. The guitar was not in the developed form it is today, or he might well have written for it. Since he did not, this transcription by Jovan Pesec is a gift to guitarists in providing them with a concerto by Mozart.
Composed in 1774, when he was 18, K191 is not only Mozart’s first bassoon concerto but also his first concerto for any wind instrument. It is simple in form, consistent with the composer’s lack of concerto experience, yet undeniably Mozartean in the way he takes the bassoon up to the limit of its three octaves (incidentally giving the soloist a lot of hard work to do in the process). The key of B flat major is almost certainly dictated by the fact that it is the bassoon’s lowest note. It is not a practical key for the guitar, and a semitone drop to A major is a pragmatic compromise, improving the playability while remaining at the same level of pitch.
Colin Cooper