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Double Bass Audition Excerpts?

#2
beethoven 5, 7, 9
mozart 35, 39, 40, 41
brahms 1 and 2
strauss heldenleben, don juan, also sprauch, til eulenspiegel
mahler 1, 2, and 5


the list goes on and on and on and on...those are some of the ones i've started to look at. be prepared to spend a lifetime on these things...
 
#3
Mozart 35 first and last movements
Schubert "The Great" 3 and 4th movements
Beethoven 9 - recits, ode and march
Beethoven 5 - scherzo trio
Mahler 2
Mahler 1 solo
Strauss Don Juan
Strauss Ein Heldenleben #9 and the battle scene and many more
Mendelssohn symphony # 3 and 4
Soli from Verdi's Otello
Brahms 1 and 2 and some of 4
...........and the list goes on and on
 
#5
jbenner913 said:
What excerpts were you asked to play when you were auditioning for an orchestra? I'm just wondering what I should start looking at....
Click to expand...

The most common excerpts, by far, are Beethoven 5, mvmt. III; Mozart 40 mvmts. I and IV; Beethoven 9, mvmt. IV; Strauss: "ein Heldenleben". These four works, for better or worse, are nearly guaranteed to be on any US orchestra's bass audition list, so that's a *great* place to start!

I've kept all the audition lists I ever applied for, and it turns out that "The Standard Excerpts" haven't changed much from my teachers' collections of old audition lists, so...

---------------Here are all "THE STANDARDS":
Bach: Orchestral Suite #2 in B Minor
Beethoven Sym#3
Beethoven Sym#5
Beethoven Sym#7
Beethoven Sym#9
Berlioz Symphonie Fatastique
Brahms Sym#1
Brahms Sym#2
Haydn Sym#88
Mahler Sym#2
Mendelssohn Sym#4
Mozart Sym#35
Mozart Sym#39
Mozart Sym#40
Shostakovich Sym#5
Schubert Sym#10 "The Great" C major
Smetana Overture to "The Bartered Bride"
Strauss Don Juan
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra
Tchaikowsky Sym#4
---------------ORCHESTRAL SOLOS/SOLIS:
Bach Vln Cto in E Major
Britten young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Ginastera Variationes Concertante
Haydn Syms # 6, 7, 8, 31
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Prokofiev Lieutenant Kije Suite "Romance"
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
Verdi Rigoleto
Verdi Othello
 
#6
Do not try to absorb all of this. I would suggest focusing on a limited selection and get them sounding very good before you move on.

One way to go would be:
#1, Mozart 39 first page of movement 1
#2, Mozart 39 last movement (the passage is only one page)
#3, Mozart 39 slow movement first half page

#4, bach orchestral suite#2 first page only

#5, Brahms 1 last movement
#6, Beethoven 3 first movement

The idea is to really focus on the strokes as these contain the essentials of most orchestral music.

When this list is on a high level you move on to a rotation of four symphonic pieces per year:
A/
Mozart, one of the four 35,39,40,41

B/
Beethoven, one of the four 3,5,7,9

C/
Brahms, one of 1,2
mendelssohn 4
Symphonie Fantastique

D/
Strauss, Heldenleben, Don Juan, Zarathustra
Mahler 2

This rotation should take 4 years
You should then be able to repeat the rotation in 2 years.
The rest of the rep you learn for specific auditions.

A good rotation of orchestral bowing (Strokin')
and scales/technique (dimoffs "warmup" or Boardwalkin etc)
ca 2 hours a day on top of this for six years or so should do the trick.

kindest,
Kjetil Laukholm
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
 

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