Anyone Played the Romance from Lieutenant Kije by Prokofiev?

Eli_Upright12 · #1 05-31-2007, 04:23 PM

I'm learning it right now and I was wondering if anyone had any tips, hints, fingers, etc to offer? so far I really like it, any other thoughts on it?

Stan Haskins · #2 06-01-2007, 09:29 AM

That's a good piece.

I've only played the solo arrangement from the Zimmerman book "Solos for the Double Bassist" - I'm not sure if my experience is valid. Are you playing from the original orchestral part? I know Zimmerman took lots of liberties with the solos in the book to make them more playable.

That being said, I reccomend practicing with the piano accompaniment, or some other accompaniment, to make sure you're staying in tune through the modulations. It goes through some fairly difficult key changes (I believe you end up in Gb Minor for a while, if I'm not mistaken), and it's very easy to miss the key areas if you're not hearing them clearly.

Good luck. Post recordings when you want, I'd love to hear some more versions of this piece!

Eli_Upright12 · #3 06-01-2007, 01:40 PM

I'm playing the Zimmerman Version, and I do believe takes a couple creative liberties like the part in thumb position up an octave, I dont believe that is in the original arrangement. Also i believe he might have shortened it up a bit. The keys get a little funky, but at the high school i play in an all winds ensemble so I'm used to all sorts of flats.

Eli_Upright12 · #4 06-03-2007, 12:10 PM

No one else has played this piece or has anything to say?

stefaniw80401 · #5 06-04-2007, 02:02 PM

I was lucky enough to be principle bass in my orchestra when we played it this season (4 months ago). I practiced it hard for a few weeks. Our conductor only gave me 3 or 4 opportunities (including dress rehearsal) prior to the concert. That was the biggest issue for me. After the first pass, he told me to play it as loud as I could -- I was already playing it forte. So I went home that week and slowed the bow down and leaned into it near the bridge to pump it out ff. This made it louder, and projected better, but when you play like that, there is little room for error with bow placement and speed. Next week at rehearsal, my adrenaline was pumping and my notes kept "breaking loose". So it was bad two weeks in a row. The worst of it was that I lost the musicality of it. That 3rd week I went back to being more musical, and not so close to the bridge. I also turned out towards the front a little, which took courage, but also let me project out much better. At the concert, I started it off OK, and fudged up the intonation in the middle section a bit. And I nailed the ending of the movement.

Here's a summary of my advice:
o Practice playing it forte.
o Practice playing it slow! There are some long bows that you need to save!
o Break out your best Gary Karr vibrato, or no vibrato at all ala Edgar Meyer. Worse thing you could do is have a nervous narrow vibrato.
o Use the harmonics Luke. Don't forget to vibe those harmonics. I get best vibe on harmonics when my finger tip presses down and vibed on the fingerboard on the bass side of the G string, letting the side of my finger touch the harmonic. You can also vibe a harmonic vertically without touching the FB, but it's not as effective.
o Memorize it for god sakes! Only then will you get it to come out musical with feeling.
o Turn out towards the house if you have the kajones to do so.
o Make love to your bass. After all, that's what I think Prokofiev had in mind. Our instrument visually evokes the female figure. If you play it with love in your mind and a relaxed face -- perhaps even a Monalisa smile, you will convey what the composer intended.

Good luck!

Eli_Upright12 · #6 06-04-2007, 07:57 PM

Thanks, Ive been not trying to over do it, cause Im just playing it as a excerpt to work on for a while, Ive been mostly working on the musicality of it and getting it to flow and resonate well.

SirFunk · #7 07-03-2007, 11:38 PM

If you want to hear how it should sound, listen to "Russians" by String :-D

ok, just kidding, but he did use the melody from this piece in that song.

Dave Whitla · #8 07-08-2007, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirFunk

If you want to hear how it should sound, listen to "Russians" by String :-D

Lots of folks here are probably too young to realize that you meant "Sting"!

Good tune though.

SirFunk · #9 07-08-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Whitla

Lots of folks here are probably too young to realize that you meant "Sting"!

Good tune though.

Damn, I didn't think I was THAT old. Good call on the typo though :-D