Martin Kuuskmann likes the high tenor sound of a bassoon, the way it pierces the silence as it nearly mimics the human voice with its range.
“It’s a big instrument and it’s complicated, fingerings wise,” Kuuskmann said, but the sound he creates is “soothing (and) wholesome.”
That soothing sound will fill Tucson Symphony Center when Kuuskmann, the Estonia-born bassoonist who has performed with some of the world’s biggest orchestras, returns this afternoon for his second concert this weekend to launch TSO Music Director José Luis Gomez’s “New Works/Re-Works” initiative.
Kuuskmann, the TSO’s artist in residence, will perform with TSO musicians including Concertmaster Lauren Roth and pianist Dean Zhang. The program includes Richard Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” and a work for solo bassoon by fellow Estonian Tõnu Kõrvit and Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres.”
The performance is an encore for Kuuskmann, who guested with the TSO in 2018 and was set to return in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the season.
Kuuskmann, the son of a piano teacher, has been playing bassoon since high school, when a friend offered to loan him his bassoon for a music program audition. At the time, Kuuskmann was playing piano and clarinet.
“I felt very awkward saying, ‘No, I don’t want to study’ because the bassoon professor was right there,’” said Kuuskmann, 50, who has several Grammy nominations to his credit. “I felt bad saying no to someone.”
Kuuskmann said he is drawn to the instrument because of its wide range.
“The sound is the closest to a human,” he said. “Range wise, the bassoon is right there with the low bass and goes up to high tenor.”
Kuuskmann said he has long drawn inspiration from classical music’s usual suspects — Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and the other towering figures in the genre. But he also has an affinity for contemporary composers.
“I love John Adams and Steve Reich,” Kuuskmann said. “There are so many fantastic contemporary composers that I can’t even name them all.”
