Listening Log №12 – Willson Osborne – Rhapsody for Bassoon (1952)

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For the final short entry dedicated to solo woodwind compositions I listened to Willson Osborne’s Rhapsody for Bassoon from around 1952. Willson Osborne (1906-1979) was an American composer which, by all accounts I could find, remains little known outside of this work for solo bassoon, which is a cornerstone of the solo repertoire for the instrument.

The piece which concerns this log entry is the Rhapsody, originally written for solo bassoon and later adapted for clarinet and bass clarinet. This piece remains very popular in the solo bassoon repertoire and and numerous recordings have been done for both clarinet and bass clarinet also.

The Rhapsody is meant to be highly expressive in the way that is performed. There are long legato passages throughout and rarely any (if any) stand-alone notes, accents, sudden changes in dynamic, or short attacks. The composer has annotated nearly every measure with some kind of precise indication concerning tempo or expressive remark. Often, the instructions from the composer appear mid phrase, as if having a conductor in front of you while reading the score:

Sample from the score, showing Osborne’s frequent and meticulous indications

I haven’t found too much written about some of the expressive indications from the composer. I think for a piece like this the choice of scales and tonality seem, to me, to be less interesting than the structure and the expressive capabilities/expectations of the piece. The composer has marked meticulous instructions and a lot of time could be spent analyzing the way that these relate to the corresponding phrases (for example, are there riten. on returns to any tonal centers?)

I listened to this piece a number of times and it grew on me, as I wasn’t too interested in it to begin with. I can imagine this is an amazing piece for a woodwind player to showcase the full expressive potential of the instrument and the performer would benefit tremendously from tackling a piece like this.

Recording: 
Osborne, W., Lamb, C., LeClair, J., Feldman, J. 2019. "Rhapsody for Solo Bassoon" Judith LeClair Plays Schumann, Osbourne, Telemann, Reynolds, Weber and Ravel . Middlesex: Signum Records. [online]

Sheet music:
Osborne, W. 1958. Rhapsody for Clarinet (B-flat). New York: C.F. Peters Corporation. [online]