Metafagote Rebekah Heller

• Rand Steiger (1957):
• 1 Concatenation 16:15
• Dai Fujikura (1977):
• 2 Following 04:38
• Jason Eckardt (1971):
• 3 A Compendium of Catskill Native Botanicals, Book 2: Asarum canadense "Wild Ginger" 06:00
• Felipe Lara (1979):
• 4 Metafagote 17:15
• Total Runtime 44:08

Info for Metafagote

„Metafagote“, bassoon virtuoso Rebekah Heller’s second release on the International Contemporary Ensemble’s (ICE) in-house imprint TUNDRA, is an album that explores and inverts the raw sound of the solo bassoon, using electronics, spatialization and powerful melodic writing. The recording features four landmark works for the instrument written for Heller by luminary composers Jason Eckardt, Felipe Lara, Rand Steiger, and Dai Fujikura, all heard here in their premiere recordings. About his work for bassoon and live electronics processing, Concatenation, Rand Steiger writes, “Concatenation revisits an approach I have explored in previous solo pieces that I call “nested etudes,” in which a set of contrasting materials, any one of which could have been the subject of an etude, are laid out and interwoven into a continuous conversation. In this piece, there are seven different kinds of material, each with a unique approach to signal processing.” After each “character” is introduced in its own exposition, as the piece evolves, the different kinds of material begin an increasingly interwoven dialogue with each other. Dai Fujikura’s Following is a follow up work to his earlier piece, the evocative Calling also written for Heller in 2011. This newer lyrical piece stands in contrast to the bracing, multiphonics-heavy earlier work. Jason Eckardt’s A Compendium of Catskill Native Botanicals, Asarum canadense, “Wild Ginger” slithers around microtonal melodic fragments, evoking a ritualistic chant. Eckardt resides in the Catskill Mountain region north of New York City, and this sonic meditation on botanic species found near his home is consistent with his engagement and reverence for the natural and the indigenous in many of his works. On the title track, Brazilian born Felipe Lara explores how layering bassoon upon bassoon - seven bassoons total - can create a new instrument entirely, or, a Metafagote (fagote being the word for bassoon in Felipe's native Portuguese). All four works, major and exciting additions to the solo bassoon repertoire, were written for and with Rebekah Heller through a deep and meaningful collaborative process with each composer.

Rebekah Heller, bassoon

Rebekah Heller
Praised for her “flair” and “deftly illuminated” performances by The New York Times, bassoonist Rebekah Heller is a uniquely dynamic chamber, orchestral and solo musician. Equally comfortable playing established classical works and the newest of new music, Rebekah is a fiercely passionate advocate for the bassoon. Called an "impressive solo bassoonist" by The New Yorker, she is tirelessly committed to collaborating with composers to expand the modern repertoire for the instrument.

Her debut solo album of world premiere recordings, 100 names, has been called "pensive and potent" by the New York Times and was featured in the ArtsBeat Classical Playlist of the same publication. As a core member of the renowned International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Rebekah plays solo and chamber music all over the world. She has been a featured soloist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Nagoya Philharmonic and has performed in cities both near and far – including São Paolo, Rio, Manaus, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Köln, Salzburg, Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and many, many more.

A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, Rebekah lives in New York City.

“It’s refreshing to hear the bassoon edging its way towards the sonic foreground in contemporary music. Anyone with doubts about how cool the instrument can be has perhaps not yet heard bassoonist and core member of ICE Rebekah Heller perform; in her hands, the oft-underappreciated woodwind is transformed into a fierce creature that cannot be ignored onstage. Whether the music being performed is a cadenza from a Mozart piece or a new work by an ICELab participant, she will make you wonder how you never noticed the instrument before.” — New Music Box

Booklet for Metafagote