Julius Röntgen Sonata for bassoon and piano (1929)

German-born composer Julius Röntgen wrote this beautiful sonata late in his life – what a gift to discover it! Röntgen lived an exciting and rich life. He was a close friend and great admirer of Johannes Brahms, something that is quite apparent in this music. He also visited Edvard Grieg numerous times in Norway and was deeply inspired by the exceptional nature there. He married the Swedish composer Amanda Maier Röntgen, and although the couple settled in the Netherlands, they increasingly spent time at their summer residence on the island of Lolland in southern Denmark. Röntgen seems to have been a very social person with a wide network of friends, which also included the Danish national composer Carl Nielsen. This sonata reveals a wide range of expression and unusually intimate writing for the bassoon. Some of the thematic lines are placed in the deepest register of the instrument, creating a dense and almost orchestral sound world. Julius Röntgen: Sonata for Bassoon and Piano • Lento e mesto • Un poco agitato • Fantasia • Allegro Sebastian Stevensson – bassoon Asuka Nakamura – piano Sound and video: Constantin Barcov