Word: bassoon
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...Their music is a careful balance between rock, electronic, and classical influences. For example, in Yes's rendition of portions of the third movement of Brahm's 4th Symphony in E minor, they replace the strings with an electric piano, the reeds with an electric harpsicord, and the contra bassoon with a moog synthesizer. As a result of their efforts, the group has produced the definitive rock version of a classical work...
...overture was done with a speed and precision that puts to shame the student orchestras in the vicinity, which this definitely was not. The violin section was outstanding, playing presto sixteenth-note runs with a remarkable unity. The strings never covered wind solos, among them the beautiful clarinet and bassoon accompaniment to Don Ottavio's Il Mio Tesoro Intanto. An important detail was the size of the harpsichord: mercifully, it was large enough to cut through the heavier scoring, avoiding the distracting jangle that is the fate of a small instrument pushed to extremes...
...Third and Fourth Suites are notable for their employment of the baroque trumpet and baroque tympani (the latter, too, different from its contemporary). The Fourth Suite has three competing choirs (in best concertato style): the strings, oboes and bassoons, and trumpets and tympani. The concept of tympani acting as a bass instrument (as legitimate as bassoon, cello, or violone) is foreign to us; but the particular sound of these drums (partly from the use of ivory mallets without felt) gives them a much brighter tone that blends with the trumpets...
Stirred by the pinch of musical unemployment and the urge for personal freedom, San Francisco's corps of street minstrels has now grown to a score or more regular performers, mainly on the flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin and viola. All have become remarkably knowledgeable about what kinds of groups, sounds, and even sites are best for competing with the daily cacophony of a busy city...
...Director Lindsay Anderson has orchestrated these in a stylized contrapuntal flow that achieves the repetitive impact of similarly sparse dialogue in Pinter and Beckett. Gielgud and Richardson are a beautifully complementary pair, the dandy and the tradesman, Gielgud's elevated clarinet tones v. Richardson's deeper bassoon. When Gielgud narrows his eyes he seems to be glimpsing the Elysian Fields; when Richardson widens his, he seems to be devouring a plate of sausages. Gielgud has a troubled introspective psyche; Richardson tries to rout his spooks with an anecdotal army of distant relatives. In sum, they create something more...