How come the Eccles Sonata played by Joel Quarrington is in...

[Blazemourne]

A Minor instead of G Minor?

[ClassicalBass]

Solo tuning. He reads it in G, but his bass is tuned a step higher, so it gets transposed into A. Same with Edgar Meyer's recording.

Solo strings sound brighter, and project much better. Besides, he was probably set up this way in the rest of the recordings on that album, so it would be strange for him to change strings.

Well.....hmmm, now that I think of it, Joel tunes in fifths, right? I don't know much about fifth tuning methods, but I still think playing the piece in A makes more sense with a high A string than playing it in G.

If you're looking for the piano part in A minor (so you can play it in solo tuning), you can download it here for free.

http://doublebassblog.org/2006/08/ec...uble-bass.html

[Blazemourne]

Yeah he tunes in 5ths, I tune in 5ths too. The Eccles Sonata was originaly a cello piece in the key of G Minor though, and since the strings of 5ths tune bass is like cello but an octave lower, I was wondering why it would be neccesary to change the key.

[ClassicalBass]

I thought it was originally a Violin Piece? Anyway, I've only ever heard viola, cello, and bass play it.

You make a good point: the transcription should work the same as if played on cello when in fifths tuning. Maybe he takes the end of the 4th movement up an octave (as is common), and those harmonics would come in handy playing in A minor.

[Blazemourne]

Ok so I have just got an email back from him:

Half of that cd I made I did in "solo tuning" and the
Eccles is one of the pieces I did that way.
The rest is in fifths; its funny because recording that
cd came right in the middle of my learning fifths and
there is a two year gap in the process! When I came
back to it I was playing everything in fifths. If I
could do it over I probably would play it in G minor
like a cello but A minor does have some nice tonal
advantages.

[Eli_Upright12]

Originally Posted by ClassicalBass

I thought it was originally a Violin Piece? Anyway, I've only ever heard viola, cello, and bass play it.

You make a good point: the transcription should work the same as if played on cello when in fifths tuning. Maybe he takes the end of the 4th movement up an octave (as is common), and those harmonics would come in handy playing in A minor.

It was for violin originally and Ive seen some very young violinists play it, but its greatest relevance in our day and age is on Cello and Bass.