Deficits (Sonata) - BSN/PN

Deficits - Sonata
for bassoon and piano
by Andrew Foutz - American composer

Deficits-Sonata for Bassoon and Piano embodies the composer’s fascination with rhythmic and harmonic complexity. It also exhibits many of the emotions and tendencies associated with Foutz’s experience with ADHD through overlapping rhythmic patterns, asymmetric meter, and extensive range. He found much of his inspiration in progressive metal and rock music, especially that of guitars Plini, marrying the style with baroque fugues and through-composed self-referential works from the late romantic era, resulting in an ever-evolving yet always familiar experience.

Andrew Foutz grew up in Western Colorado playing piano and singing from an early age. He participated in choirs and barbershop quartets as he got older while also learning clarinet, flute, saxophone, percussion, guitar, and bassoon. He began composing and arranging music, mostly for his family to sing for Christmas caroling, and found he had a knack for writing music. During his time at Brigham Young University, Foutz studied bassoon under Dr. Christian Smith, and his continued work in arrangement and composition led to an arrangement of John Powell’s How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack for eight bassoons and two contrabassoons in the spring of 2018. After performing the arrangement and hearing other compositions from Foutz, Dr. Smith commissioned him to write a bassoon sonata.