The Accent label has reissued a number of recordings from the 1980s, mostly of Baroque music played on historical instruments. They've been intelligently selected, with programs that still haven't been duplicated often and will fill holes in many collections. This 1983 release includes notes (in English, French, and German) sketching out the early history of the bassoon, and the music gives examples of its first efflorescence in France. When this album was first released, Vivaldi's large collection of bassoon concertos was just coming into general circulation. These sonatas for bassoon and continuo by the indefatigable Joseph Bodin de Boismortier and the younger Michel Corrette, an organist at a Jesuit school in Paris, aren't in Vivaldi's league, but they're sympathetically written for the instrument and offer music in short movements that's as pleasant today as it was when it first appeared. Indeed, listeners new to historical instruments might start with the copy of an eighteenth century Parisian bassoon heard here; it's clear and songful, with none of the quirks of other early instruments. The sonatas by Corrette, with their Sarabande slow movements and several sprightly little fugues on the outside, are especially attractive; some of them are arrangements of music by Couperin. The booklet, incidentally, states that Corrette was 20 years younger than Boismortier, which is accurate but doesn't match the dates given in the tracklist; perhaps the booklet essay is new and reflects the substantial research covering this period since the album first appeared. Bassoonist Danny Bond and the cello-and-harpsichord continuo players Richte van der Meer and
Robert Kohnen wouldn't be out of place on a historical-instrument recital today, and the digital 1983 sound has also held up well. The program, barely 45 minutes long, still reflected LP-dimension thinking; true enthusiasts of the bassoon may wish it were longer.