VIVALDI: CONCERTO FOR BASSOON – FRED ALSTON

ANTONIO VIVALDI: CONCERTO FOR BASSOON IN F MAJOR, RV 489 – A live concert performance featuring Fred Alston with Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra in 1972, conducted by Marc Mostovoy, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I. Allegro
II. Largo
III. Allegro

About Antonio Vivaldi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio...

About Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra: https://vivaldi4seasons.com/concerto-...

About Fred Alston:
Fred O. Alston, Jr. (1947 - 2022) began taking private piano lessons around the age of 7 when his family moved from a small farming community in NC to Philadelphia Pennsylvania. In junior high school, he was asked to consider playing the bassoon and quickly excelled on the instrument, assuming the first bassoon chair in both his school and in the All-City Junior High and High School orchestras. He began attending the city’s Settlement Music School where he studied under its director, former Philadelphia Orchestra principal bassoonist, Sol Schoenbach and bassoonist, Shirley Curtis. At age 16 he debuted with The Philadelphia Orchestra as featured soloist in a young people’s concert.

Fred received a full music scholarship to Indiana University where he had the opportunity to study under one of his music icons, cellist Janos Starker. During his sophomore year, he was selected to perform at Lincoln Center on Leonard Bernstein’s Young Performers series. The series identified promising young musicians from around the country. It aired nationally giving Fred extensive visibility. Wherever he played, people marveled at his unique sound.

In 1971 he accepted the position of principal bassoon with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, making him the first African American classical musician to hold such a post in any major symphony orchestra in the United States.

Just prior to his appointment , he was invited by Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra’s Music Director, Marc Mostovoy, to perform as guest soloist on the ensemble’s main concert series for the 1971-72 season. The day following his performance, a review appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer with the headline: “Bassoonist Sparkles in Demanding Concert.” This recording is of that performance.

A few years after his appointment with the NJSO, Fred put down his bassoon and – with one exception 18 years later – never played it again. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of the most gifted young bassoonists to have ever played the instrument.