Longings

Rick Barrantes Agüero

with
William Short
Daniel Matsukawa
Glenn Einschlag

Longings will be available for streaming and download on all major platforms January 16, 2026.

Longings is a compendium of music for one or two bassoons by composers from underrepresented backgrounds. It features Costa Rican bassoonist Rick Barrantes Agüero and his bassoon mentors as guest artists: William Short (Principal Bassoon - Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Danny Matsukawa (Principal Bassoon - The Philadelphia Orchestra), and Glenn Einschlag (Principal Bassoon - Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra).

Soviet composer Sofia Gubaidulina wrote Duo Sonata for two bassoons in 1977, utilizing her traditional language of complex rhythmic structures, unique harmonic language, and colorful new textures through the use of extended techniques. These include quarter-tones, multiphonics, flutter-tonguing, and glissandi. Gubaidulina was heavily criticized for her musical language during the first half of her career, as she lived in a very conservative Soviet Union. Her music was later received with fame and praise worldwide, where her spiritual approach to alternative tunings was finally accepted. She expressed her longing to be a rebel in writing music that connects intuition with intellectual work. She achieves that in this work by accessing a wide range of fascinating timbres through the twenty-four tone scale within the large register of the bassoon. The composer writes: “I understand it as a unification of two spaces: the first is the twelve-semitonal space, and the second is another twelve-semitonal space a quartertone higher. For me, this is a metaphor of the image and its shadow, or a day and a night. From my point of view, in the twelve-tone compositions of the twentieth century, everything is as in the daytime; everything is enlightened and rationalized; there is no place for ‘night.’ …But within the twenty-four tone scale, we may have not only ‘a day,’ but also ‘a night.”

Costa Rican composer Sergio Delgado wrote Tres Invenciones Sabatinas in 2025, and this recording represents its world premiere. The Spanish title translates to “Three Sabattine Inventions.” It defines the work as three movements composed on a Saturday in the musical form of an invention, which are short compositions in two-part counterpoint. The composer writes: “This work explores the vitality and complexity of Afro-descendant rhythm through the bassoon’s rich timbre and expressiveness. The piece is structured as a series of brief inventions in which the bassoons dialogue, imitate, and intertwine in polyrhythmic textures that evoke the bodily movement and ritual energy of Afro-descendant traditions. Through the use of shifted accents, call-and-response patterns, and register contrasts, the work transforms the bassoon's grave and solemn character into a vibrant, dancing voice, capable of revealing new possibilities of articulation and color. These inventions celebrate the encounter between ancestral pulse and contemporary exploration, transforming Saturday—a symbol of rest and communion—into a sonic space of rhythmic invention.”

Brazilian composer José Siqueira wrote Five Duets in 1953 as part of a set of duets for each of the woodwind instruments. This work for two bassoons clearly reflects his mature compositional style that combines Brazilian folk music, modal and polytonal harmony, pentatonic scales, and Afro-Brazilian rhythms. It contains five movements: the first is improvisatory and dramatic, the second is lyrical and serene, the third is virtuosic and rhythmic, the fourth is emotional and mysterious, and the fifth is energetic and syncopated. These movements act like miniatures with unique personalities, where the composer employs dissonant harmonies and interesting counterpoint to showcase the sonority capabilities of the bassoon.

American composer Ann K. Gebuhr wrote Ghost Dance for unaccompanied bassoon in 1992, based on a poem of the same name by Robert S. Hatten from 1989. They both describe the Native American ceremony from the end of the 20th century, used as a result of their longing for peace and prosperity. This included the end of the American Westward expansion, the regeneration of their lands, and unity among their regions. The composer writes: “The priest Wovoka reported that performing Ghost Dance would bring back dead Indians, return the huge buffalo herds, and create a natural disaster that would remove the foreigners and restore the Indian way of life that had existed prior to the European influx. The religious dance was not an incitement to war or violence but more a passionate plea for freedom and a return to their lands and life. The treaties intended to bring peace were often ignored, and the tribes had been rounded up and herded onto reservations (usually the poorest land in the territory). Then they were subjected to near prison-camp-like regulations and restrictions and most of the requests were largely ignored or refused. Although practiced by a Lakota tribe in Canada until the 1960s and revived briefly in South Dakota in the 1970s, Ghost Dances were ended in 1890 by the US 7th Calvary at the Wounded Knee massacre of 297 Lakota Sioux men, women and children during the dance ceremony. Unfortunately, today there are still the remains of those types of treatment, vis-à-vis the Dakota Pipeline invasion, with the use and destruction of Native American lands that were granted through treaties which are now inconvenient. And beyond that barely acknowledged unjust activity, the bigotry, racial hatred, denial of voting rights, and probable unconstitutional treatment of Native Americans continue to this day. Robert’s poem conveys some of the deep imagery of the Lakota experience, and its expression carries a still living message.”

Ghost Dance by Robert S. Hatten

It’s what you dream
When your culture is denatured…

The return,
One thunderous afternoon,
Of buffalo, deer, elk…
Pondering the red clay
Into ancestral smoke.

Remembrance,
Throbbing before the bloodshot eye,
Captures the burden of raindance,
Though it loosen not one tear
From the vacant sky.

Crazed with wrinkles,
The Old People awaken
And stagger in buckskin
Among the white hills
Of a late-winter camp.

Indian-American composer Pranav Ranjit wrote Longing for unaccompanied bassoon in 2023, commissioned and first performed by Dr. Rick Barrantes Aguero at Temple University. The work depicts the emotions of a traveling musician, dreaming of an exciting and new future while reflecting on past adventures. These emotions are conveyed through long phrases of meditative nature, with sporadic moments of playful virtuosity. The composer writes: “Whenever any of us leave one place for another, we leave something behind. Having lived in four different countries and traveled to two more in the last five years, I often found myself missing certain aspects of all of them. In Longing, these sensations are expressed through the sustained notes and register gaps of the bassoon; I hope it will bring back similar feelings for many listeners.” The work serves as the main inspiration for the title of the album.