THE NIGHT GARDEN
JO ANNE SUKUMARAN, Bassoon
KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA, Piano et al
Hello Stage 010 / ****1/2
With this album, Jo Anne Sukumaran became the first Singaporean bassoonist to record a solo recital on compact disc. An alumnus of the Singapore Youth Orchestra, she completed her studies in Switzerland before pursuing a free-lance career as solo, chamber and orchestral bassoonist. Her programme is predominantly French but eclectic in its variety. She opens with Philippe Hersant’s Niggun, an unaccompanied Hasidic Hebrew song that showcases the bassoon’s wide tonal and emotional range.
This work also has spiritual and aesthetic connections with two of Spaniard Manuel de Falla’s Popular Spanish Songs – Asturiana and Nana – which are soothing and tender in expression, and the titular The Night Garden by Sukumaran and tabla player Sanjay Kansa Banik. The latter is a short improvisation accompanied by tanpura based on two ragas that explore mysteries of the night and Sukumaran’s own Indian heritage.
In between are Camille Saint-Saens’s Bassoon Sonata (Op.168), a late work exploiting the bassoon’s avuncular and playful character. Charles Koechlin’s Three Pieces (Op.34), Alexandre Tansman’s Sonatina and Norwegian bassonist Robert Ronnes’ Reflexion are virtuosic yet soulful additions, sensitively accompanied by pianist Kseniia Vokhmianina. This is a probing and enjoyable album, highlights of which are relived by Jo Anne and her friends in recital at Esplanade Recital Studio at 7.30 pm on Sunday 20 October 2019. Tickets are available at Peatix.
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