MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


INTERVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

Follow-up Interview with Karen Geoghegan: March 2009 by Carla Rees
Original Interview May 2008

CR:   How are you balancing your studies at the Royal Academy with external work?

KG: It can be very difficult finding the time for both, but the Academy are very supportive in this respect. They are able to plan your programme of study around external engagements. There are many students in the same position as I am, and I think they're fine with it because they love to see their students doing well and getting into the profession.  I think it's so important to continue my studies, and much of what I'm doing at the Academy ties in well with external engagements in terms of repertoire.  (For example, learning repertoire for exams etc).  I really thrive on the environment in the Academy. I love playing in the orchestras, and even enjoy the academic classes! I wouldn't want to give up any of this.  It keeps me busy balancing the two, but I'd much rather be busy than have nothing to do!

CR:    How has your debut disc been selling and what were the reactions to it?

KG: I've had such positive reactions to the disc! [review CR] [review JQ] I was just so grateful for being given the opportunity to do it that I didn't really stop to think about how it would be received.  Obviously the link with Classical Star has been a huge help, but I think also the mix of repertoire on it has been very appealing.  Especially having Summertime as an encore. I think it's really made people aware of the bassoon as a solo instrument, and I hope to continue to promote this with more repertoire.  I think it's selling well, especially for a woodwind CD. 

CR:    Can you tell us something about the piece you play on the Wolf-Ferrari disc?

KG: The Suite Concertino for Bassoon, two horn and strings is, in my opinion, quite a unique concerto.  It's so different from any other concerto I've played. There are no virtuosic scale passages or leaps from one extreme to the other.  The difficulty for the player and the beauty for the listener are in its simplicity. It's so simple yet so lyric al and expressive.  Apart from the second movement, which could be classed as the typical bassoon-character, the other movements are really not what you would expect from a bassoon concerto, but it works so well.  Wolf-Ferrari is a very under-rated composer, but I think his music is so beautiful. [review]

CR: How is your concert career developing?

KG: I've had some really great concerts as a result of the CD and Classical Star. Although I didn't agree with a lot of things about it, Classical Star was a great experience which has lead onto so many fantastic opportunities.  Quite often myself and Sophie (winner of Classical Star) get asked to do concerts together=2 0which is really nice as we're actually really good friends! We both went on tour to Ireland over summer as soloists with the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra which was great. I was also invited to perform with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra last year, and have performances coming up with the BBC Philharmonic and Scottish Opera.  As a bassoonist I'm so grateful for these opportunities as they usually don't come around very often. But I'm so happy to be promoting the instrument! 

CR:   What are you looking forward to most in the next year?

KG: I have several things lined up for the next year which I'm looking forward to. This summer I'm giving a recital as part of the International Double Reed Society Conference which is a conference dedicated to promoting the oboe and bassoon, so obviously this is a fantastic opportunity to perform amongst other bassoon soloists from Europe and America. I'm also performing with the BBC Philharmonic in August which I'm very much looking forward to, having just worked with them on the Wolf-Ferrari disc. And then of course I have my final recital at Academy!

 

 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.