Quintet

The six movements of Aho's quintet (1977) focus on the dual nature of the bassoon - its ability to express both the comic and the tragic. The first two movements display explicit humour and parody but the work moves via an intense Scherzo towards its tragic fulfillment in the Epilogue. According to Gramophone (Guy S. Rickards) this is a substantial modern chamber work with meaty parts for the bassoon in an idiom which ought not to alienate audiences.