Junior Recital coming up - looking for pieces outside the box

[tbassist4]

Hey guys,

I'm sorry if something like this has been asked before - this is my first time back after a really long time.

My junior recital is coming up soon (a few months into next year) and for my main concerto or solo piece (III - IV mvts) I really want to do something out of the ordinary.

I'm not quite up to the two Bottesini concertos yet, although I'd love to do either of them, and I really want to avoid the Koussevitsky and the Dragonetti. I'm not trying to open up a can of worms, but I don't really care for them musically - that's just my opinion. However, something in the same difficulty range as the Koussevitsky would be ideal.

For example, I'm thinking of doing Gabriel Faure's Elegie, Op. 24 as one of the extra pieces. It's an extremely beautiful piece and not commonly done on bass.

I wouldn't mind "borrowing" pieces from other instruments either - as long as its a good fit for the bass as well (I'd really not like to experiment too much and mess up my recital).

Thanks so much in advance! Your input will really help me in choosing some great music.

Tyler

[jallenbass]

The Hindemith Sonata was fun. You need a very good pianist though.

Just remember that you need something like Dragonetti or Koussevitzy for orchestra auditons. Hal Robinson used both of them successfully.

[neilG]

The concerto by Gordon Jacob is good, IMO. It uses orchestra tuning which will determine the other pieces on the recital, however.

[fergus currie]

Not often played but very nice is the Introduction and Allegro by Lennox Berkeley but that too is orchestral tuning.
you can hear Leon Bosch playing some of this and the Jacob 'little concerto' at this amazon sample page. The record is worth getting too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Doub.../dp/B00112A6U0

Am I plugging Leon too much here? No I didn't think so either!

[neilG]

Originally Posted by fergus currie

Am I plugging Leon too much here? No I didn't think so either!

I just bought that CD and I agree that it is excellent.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by jallenbass

The Hindemith Sonata was fun. You need a very good pianist though.

Just remember that you need something like Dragonetti or Koussevitzy for orchestra auditons. Hal Robinson used both of them successfully.

Thanks for the suggestion, Allen. I took a listen and it's quite a crazy piece, haha - Beautiful, though. That would really be stepping outside of even my box, I'll definitely consider it. Thanks for the heads up on the Dragonetti and Koussevitsky as well - I forgot about that little detail .

Originally Posted by neilG

The concerto by Gordon Jacob is good, IMO. It uses orchestra tuning which will determine the other pieces on the recital, however.

Excellent as well! Thanks, Neil. I plan on playing in orchestral tuning anyways, so that would not be an issue. I'll need to take a full listen through of this to get a better perspective.

Originally Posted by fergus currie

Not often played but very nice is the Introduction and Allegro by Lennox Berkeley but that too is orchestral tuning.
you can hear Leon Bosch playing some of this and the Jacob 'little concerto' at this amazon sample page. The record is worth getting too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Doub.../dp/B00112A6U0

Am I plugging Leon too much here? No I didn't think so either!

Thanks for this Fergus! I don't like this as much as the little concerto, but thanks for the link to a great CD!


Tyler

[neilG]

Another piece I'm looking at for the first time is the Sonata by Serge Lancen. Also orchestra tuning with an available piano part for solo tuning. Not too difficult but for a few measures here and there. Publisher is Billaudot.

[Dr_Atomic]

Kol Nidre by Max Bruch is a great piece; Ed Barker uses it for a recital piece regularly. It works beautifully on the bass.

A tougher choice is the Franck Violin Sonata in A Major - there's a bass version of it that's tough, but doable. I did it for my senior recital a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. The piano part is a challenge though, so keep that in mind...

The short Koussevitzsky pieces are also nice. I heard Larry Wolfe do them in recital a few years ago and they sounded great.

Also, you could think about any one of the Bach Gamba Sonatas. They aren't done as frequently as the Cello Suites, but they are really terrific. They also have nice piano parts...

[ole Jason]

On my junior recital I played 'Kobolds' composed by Rabbath however I played it all pizz with an improvised middle section. It's a pretty strange piece to begin with but with the changes it really stood out and got a lot of attention from the audience.

You need a certain kind of teacher to get away with something like that though