Music by Daniel Dorff

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music for contrabassoon

PROGRAM NOTES by the composer

Sonatina d'Amore for two contrabassoons  

Sonatina d’Amore was commissioned by Susan Nigro and Burl Lane (The Two Contras) for their Crystal CD of contra duets, and I gave the piece an Italian title in Sue’s honor.  There’s a play on words since some low instruments have d’amore in their names, like Oboe d’Amore (though I haven’t ever seen a Fagotto d’Amore).  My love for the sound quality of the contrabassoon is also a big part of this Amore, especially with the rich resonant sound of Burl and Sue playing at the same time.  Another reason for Amore is the relationship between the instruments — often like an operatic love duet with flirtatious counterpoint and resolved parallel thirds.  

Here are some audio clips from the Crystal CD:
from Mvt. 1 (28 sec., 445K MP3)
from Mvt. 2 (21 sec., 330K MP3)
from Mvt. 3 (33 sec., 518K MP3)

last updated 2/7/03