Double Bass Bowing help - Brahms 2

[Andy Mopley]

Hi all

Asking for a review of bowings (and suggestions) for the attached please!

Thanks!!

 

[AGCurry]

I think the bowings in the first snippet are fine... or at least, it's how I would play it.
In the second snippet, I might break the slurs in half, depending on tempo, because I would probably run out of bow.

 

[Andy Mopley]

Thanks - in retrospect, when comparing to score in NY Phil, and other YouTube resources, I see that in snip 2 (letter L), the C# note starts on a down bow, and with careful bow management, can go up and down from there..

Thanks again.

 

[the_Ryan]

Hi all

Asking for a review of bowings (and suggestions) for the attached please!

Thanks!!

At L the convention is to hook the E before L and the A on 1 together so that you can start the long slur at the frog on a down bow (which is much easier to manage than trying to get all the way out to the tip on a single 1/4 note down bow). Also, in measure 160 it’s common to slur the previous bar into the C#.

 

[Leif Dering]

I'd break up the slurs in the fourth movement. I just drew this up on my computer so the markings are kinda sloppy, but I recently played it for an audition and if memory serves correct this is the bowing I use. I dunno if it's the "best" but it works pretty well for me.

 

[Andy Mopley]

Txs all - the more I play, the more I believe that there is a "technically" correct bowing action and then what works for each person/section...Sometimes, there are even variations marked in the NY Phil archives for same parts.
Let the sound be king/queen!!

 

[the_Ryan]

I'd break up the slurs in the fourth movement. I just drew this up on my computer so the markings are kinda sloppy, but I recently played it for an audition and if memory serves correct this is the bowing I use. I dunno if it's the "best" but it works pretty well for me.

I feel like this is an excerpt where if you start at the frog those initial two slurs are fairly simple (in theory, maybe not in practice) to manage due to the dynamic and tempo, and by breaking them up I'd be worried about also breaking up the musical gesture since each slur is one musical line. I personally am also hesitant about delaying the slurs in 256 and 257 by a note because that could lead to accenting the line in places where it's not musically appropriate instead of reinforcing the meter.

Txs all - the more I play, the more I believe that there is a "technically" correct bowing action and then what works for each person/section...Sometimes, there are even variations marked in the NY Phil archives for same parts.
Let the sound be king/queen!!

The variations in the NYP archives come from years of playing pieces with different conductors, concertmasters, and principals who want to achieve something for that particular concert cycle, the section as a whole will almost certainly play with a unified bowing in rehearsals and performance. I don't think there's a "technically correct" bowing for each excerpt, but bow direction, speed, part of bow, starting from or off the string, when the bow changes, etc. all affect the musical phrasing. As an example, in the US it used to be common to play the thirds in Mozart 40 using a reverse bowing (playing the lower note up-bow and the higher note down-bow) because that's theoretically an easier bow movement than playing it as written, but when playing those thirds with a reverse bowing there's a real danger in accenting the upper note on the down bows, which goes against the feel/groove of the prevailing meter (2/2) by emphasizing the offbeats while de-emphasizing the downbeats.

 

[Leif Dering]

I feel like this is an excerpt where if you start at the frog those initial two slurs are fairly simple (in theory, maybe not in practice) to manage due to the dynamic and tempo, and by breaking them up I'd be worried about also breaking up the musical gesture since each slur is one musical line. I personally am also hesitant about delaying the slurs in 256 and 257 by a note because that could lead to accenting the line in places where it's not musically appropriate instead of reinforcing the meter.

It seems like everyone does it a bit differently. That bowing, for whatever reason, was the only way I could get the slurred passages clean. I'm sure some people will look at it and think I'm a nutcase!

 

[Andy Mopley]

It seems like everyone does it a bit differently. That bowing, for whatever reason, was the only way I could get the slurred passages clean. I'm sure some people will look at it and think I'm a nutcase!