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Laurence Perkins

Honey-coloured cow

Hyena Records
Release Date: April 25, 2025

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1 Norris (M) Three Dances - 2 Tango  
2 Head Three Fantastic Pieces - 1 Clouds  
3 Sauguet Barcarolle  
4 Jacob Suite for bassoon and string quartet - 1 Prelude  
5 2 Caprice  
6 3 Elegy  
7 4 Rondo  
8 Damase Automne  
9 Simaku Andante and Scherzo - 1 Andante con moto  
10 2 Scherzo Allegro giocoso  
11 Holbrooke Six Pieces, Op 23 - 3 Souvenir 'Valse'  
12 Walker (Robin) Twilight  
13 Gipps Honey-coloured cow, Op 3d  
14 Elliott Ivor the Engine signature tune  
15 Horovitz Rumpole of the Bailey  
16 Ridout Pigs 'A present for Gordon Jacob'  
17 Perkins Darkness at Derwentwater  
18 Villa-Lobos Ciranda das sete notas  
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Laurence Perkins is not only an extremely accomplished bassoonist; he also has the enviable talent of devising memorable and attractive programmes (and album titles) for his instrument. In his charming latest release, ‘Honey-coloured cow’, Perkins’s bassoon expressively sings throughout an album covering a century of music. If the occasional porcine grunt or plaintive moo intrudes—for example near the end of the Ruth Gipps piece which gives the album its title—humour is just one element in a programme exploring a wide range of moods, styles and accompanying forces. Contributions from harp, piano (John Flinders), string quartet, bassoon ensembles, and string orchestra (the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Goodchild) provide something to gladden the hearts of moosic-lovers everywhere.

From TV theme tunes to a folk-inspired ‘circle dance on seven notes’ by Villa-Lobos, Laurence Perkins—aided by a wide variety of accompanists—presents another pleasing miscellany of composers and works (no fewer than fourteen of each) demonstrating the many moo(d)s and expressive potential of the bassoon.

Of his previous album, The Times wrote: ‘The whole album represents the kind of triumph only possible from a small, imaginative, independent recording company.’

Gramophone also wrote: ‘Performer, teacher and promoter—Laurence Perkins was ideally placed to have created this anthology … His booklet notes, setting each work in the context of relevant world events, are a quirkily perceptive enhancement of this enterprising and wholly recommendable project.’

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