Hi, i'm thinking about doing grade 8 bassoon but I'm currently without a teacher having just left school. I was wondering if anybody could give me some advice on what pieces from the syllabus are best. I'm probably going to do a Weissenborn study for list C but I don't know pieces from the other lists. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Since there aren't many bassooinsts about and you haven't got a teacher then I suggest you purchase the CD, that way you can listen to the pieces and choose the ones you like?

http://www.abrsmpublishing.com/publications/4762

When I did my grade 8 (too many years ago to think about), I did the Weber concerto, Hindemith sonata and a Weissenborn study. I think it was the last movement of the Weber in those days, rather than the first.
Of the pieces in List B that I know, I think I would still choose the Hindemith, second choice would be the Saint-Saens. I would choose Mozart or Weber from the first list, but only because I don't know the others.

But you should definitely find a teacher if you can.

Chris

Thanks Chris. I'm going to have a look at the Saint-saens at first I think. I'm going to get a teacher when I go to university but I'd like to start something new before then, and if I can so some interesting music from the grade 8 syllabus then I'd like to.

yikes chris! weber and mozart are great pieces but i wouldn't touch them for grade 8, they're far too hard and to be honest even the best grade 8 performance wouldn't do them justice, in my opinion. the hindemith is a bit of a challenge as well, to play that right would be very tricky at grade 8.

i did grade 8 a few weeks ago and did the fasch from list A, the saint-saens from list B, and number 35 from weissenborn (f# minor). the fasch is in C major, it's a baroque slow movement followed by an allegro, and offers many show-off opportunities (ie i ornamented it loads in the exam) - plus it falls quite nicely under the fingers if you know your scales and arpeggios. the saint saens i found tricky, just because i'm not very good at slow movements, but the allegro's fun and once again if you can get double tonguing under your belt then that can sound very flashy indeed. the weissenborn was another good piece - certainly one of the more musical of his studies - although the 3 octave sfz C# - C# jump caught me out a few times!

if you're looking to do the exam then i'd suggest fasch - but if you're looking for interesting repertoire then the weber/mozart might be a good choice.

I'd choose the Elgar Romance if it was just down to the beauty of the music. I have a recording of Laurence Perkins playing it with orchestra which would convince anyone. Not sure how it would sound with piano accompaniment though.
Tragically it's going to be a fair while before I can play anything that difficult but it's nice to have goals.

Matt - how did you play the Saint-Saens slow movement in the end? Some months ago you posted about whether to play the opening without too much expression.
Hope the exam went well.

the elgar's beautiful, never played it but the principal in my orchestra was going to play it for the concerto competition i think.

@basil: something clicked i think and i kinda 'got' what my teacher ment - i was thinking 'expressionless' when in fact i need 'calm'. i've got quite a fast vibrato and the slow movement can't really take it, so i justed switched it (mostly) off and it started to work better. the exam went pretty well expect for a dodgy C# that developed on my bassoon before the exam, but hopefully that won't count against me too much