January 24, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … The Bassoon Brothers return to Chamber Music on Tap to perform music from their CD recordings, as well as favorites from past performances, in what’s expected to be another sold-out concert on Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. at BridgePort BrewPub. Chamber Music on Tap, the “listener-friendly” chamber music series sponsored by BridgePort Brewing Company, is presented by Fortissimo, an Oregon Symphony volunteer organization. The BridgePort BrewPub is located at 1313 N.W. Marshall.
The Bassoon Brothers, otherwise known as the Symphony’s bassoon section, are known for their highly eccentric and inimitable approach to the bassoon, an instrument they call the “Rodney Dangerfield,” because of its relative lack of respect. Their concert repertoire includes music of all styles, and their performances always feature musical humor including site gags and not-so-subtle musical quotes. Their members include Mark Eubanks, Robert Naglee, Steve Ingle and Bonnie Cox, the Bassoon Brothers’ “sole sister.”
Every Bassoon Brothers concert opens with “Funeral March of a Marionette” by Gounod, more commonly known as the TV theme song for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. They will provide kazoos for the audience to perform along with their “Fanfare for the Common Bassoonist” and the audience will also provide the percussion effects with foot stomps or silverware. The Brothers will also perform the first piece they wrote especially for their pioneering effort at Bridegport, called “Louie Louie, Roll Out the Barrel.”
The balance of the musical program will be announced and will include some serious and not-so-serious chamber music. As usual, there will be a world premiere performance of a new musical “derangement” by the Brothers and their first brewpub performance with the newest instrument in the bassoon family, the sopranoon. This instrument is pitched an octave above the bassoon and joins the rest of the family, which includes the contrabassoon and the tenoroon. This concert will also feature the tromboon, a cross between the bassoon and trombone, which combines the least desirable qualities of both instruments. Professor Peter Schickele has dubbed this instrument the “wind breaker.”
Chamber Music on Tap is held upstairs in the BridgePort BrewPub's Heritage Room every third Wednesday of each month through May. The concerts provide audience members the opportunity to interact with musicians and socialize while sampling the brewery's homemade pizza and handcrafted, award-winning ales in the pub's unique building, a 100-year-old former rope factory.
The Bassoon Brothers' performance is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m. at BridgePort BrewPub. Tickets are $6 for Fortissimo members, $10 for the general public and may be purchased in advance at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday - Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at the door, if available. All proceeds from the evening benefit the Oregon Symphony.
The Bassoon Brothers have been stirring up trouble since they began performing together in 1985. They have stolen material from string quartets, operas, symphonies and popular music, calling it their own with the unmistakable Bassoon Brothers stamp. Their first CD recording, “Wanted for Low Down Playing and Bass Behavior,” on Crystal Records, showed many of their musical crimes. They commissioned another known associate felon, a fellow bassoonist, Peter Schickele a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach, for some hot goods and more rip-offs. Since the release in 1999, the Bros. CD has been the number one selling recording of all solo or group bassoon recordings on Amazon.com. The irreverence they demonstrate and theft of material continues with the release of their 2002 recording entitled “Captured.”
Due to the serious nature of their crimes, the Bassoon Brothers have spent some time in prisons in Oregon and California. Performing in prisons has become a passion for the group. They have shadowed the Oregon Symphony on northwest tours for years performing their purloined material in schools, retirement centers and community outreach programs. The Bassoon Brothers pioneered the Symphony’s BridgePort Brew Pub Chamber Music on Tap with every performance a sell out. The unusual criminal nature of the group caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal where their photo appeared with an article about the bassoons and brew connection, as did another article in the Seattle Times. HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live” show featured a photo of them with the comment that they were the finalists in the Fifth Annual Amsterdam Bong Hit Festival. The same photo was a recent clue on ABC’s Jeopardy show. Answer: “What is a bassoon?”
What the bassoon does not have is respect. That’s why the Bassoon Brothers call it the Rodney Dangerfield instrument. Their mission is, first, for the public to quit calling it an oboe and, second, a call for more people to take the instrument seriously. They consider the bassoon to be an endangered instrument for lack of players. In the right hands, the “clown of the orchestra” is capable of great versatility and beauty as well as its role as a “belching bedpost.” In some reviews the Bros. have been called role models for younger players, having given them material to enjoy the bassoon just for the fun of it. Through this approach they hope to attract more players to the instrument, which is their ultimate mission.
The composer Michael Daugherty, known for his strange and offbeat compositions, has featured the bassoon in an early composition entitled Dead Elvis, calling for the bassoonist to dress as an Elvis impersonator. When Michael Daugherty began composing his biker bassoonist bash, “Hells Angels for Bassoon Quartet and Orchestra,” where did he draw some of his inspiration? From a Bassoon Brothers CD. He wanted to see what we were doing, especially the jazzy capabilities of the instrument. The Bassoon Brothers performed “Hells Angels” in biker gear in May 2002 and are the first to record “Hells Angels” with a release date of April 2003. The Oregon Symphony is the back up band.