Bassoonarama 12/18/17 Sudler Hall Yale

It's beginning to look a lot like bassoonarama, everywhere I go. The annual holiday concert and bassoon recital is gaining in popularity judging by the near capacity crowd at Sudler Hall. Some Christmas songs to start, followed by duets and trios of the Yale bassoon class ( there were six students and the bassoon playing prof). Selections by Mozart, Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz, and a lively composition by a South American composer. Some Christmas music to round out the evening seems to drown out the hyper-commercialized holiday madness and replace it with happy holiday sounds. The sound of the bassoon, and the bass-blast of the large contrabassoon, can be mournful in many settings. The arrangements of holiday classics shows the happier side of this underrated instrument.