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Classical music suitable for playing on bass...

F

Fassa Albrecht

Feb 18, 2007
7,818
26
38
Tyneside, UK
#1
I've decided to try something of a new project by adapting a piece of classical music to bass.

Only problem- I don't know squat about classical music and I am hoping some lovely people here can suggest some pieces.

I don't want to do Bach if I can avoid it because too many people do the cello suites, and I want to avoid something which has been done over and over.


Any ideas?
 
#3
Fassa Albrecht said:
I've decided to try something of a new project by adapting a piece of classical music to bass.

Only problem- I don't know squat about classical music and I am hoping some lovely people here can suggest some pieces.
Click to expand...

Well - a lot has happened after Bach - but this is especially true in the world of the Symphony orchestra - where the sound pallette has become ever more complex and the pieces longer and more involved!

Mahler's Symphonies for example require more than 100 people - maybe up to a thousand, to achieve the desired effect and last over an hour...?

How are you going to adapt that for BG and not lose the essence of the piece..? :hmm:
 
#6
Bruce Lindfield said:
Mahler's Symphonies for example require more than 100 people - maybe up to a thousand, to achieve the desired effect and last over an hour...?

How are you going to adapt that for BG and not lose the essence of the piece..? :hmm:
Click to expand...

You wouldn't. But, for example, I've made an arrangement of the beginning theme to slow movement to his first symphony that works very well for bass guitar.

Through all of his 9.5 symphonies, Mahler rarely strays far from the big diatonic picture and all end on a IV to I or V to I, alla Bach.
 
#9
Fassa Albrecht said:
Only problem- I don't know squat about classical music and I am hoping some lovely people here can suggest some pieces.
Click to expand...

I mean this in no offenseive way, but,
if you don't know squat about the music, you have no business playing it! Or doing anything with it! The first step to arranging classical music for bass is NOT EVER arranging music for bass! It is of course learning about the music. What makes you think that you will be able to produce anything of any quailty if you're just fumbling in the dark?

Listen first. Play later.
 
#10
I made an attempt at "Clair de Lune" by Debussy. Turned out great! As long as the feel is right it sounds awesome. I know it's a weird song to play on the bass (cuz it's piano) but it was worth my time! taught me a lot about double stops and harmony!
 
#12
Bruce Lindfield said:
google it! :scowl:
Click to expand...

Google?

I only know from my adult life long experience studying the scores, hearing the recordings, and performing several of the symphonies (and song cycles) in professional orchestras in two countries.

Perhaps we’re really saying the same thing. Try starting with the serial compositions of Schoenberg and Berg… Mahler contemporaries… to see what I mean.

I defer to Bach… so did Mahler.
 
#13
Schonberg studied with Mahler and said that his work owed a lot to Mahler's 9th Symphony!

The 1st movement of the 9th veers of into turmoil and dissonance - it doesn't follow the "apparent" sonata form and returns to themes in unusual and unpredictable keys.

By the time we get to the 10th symphony sketches, there are many episodes where key is suspended and tonality breaks down completely! :eyebrow:
 
#14
Bruce Lindfield said:
there are many episodes where key is suspended and tonality breaks down completely! :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

You are right. This is true to some extent in all his symphonies, and the reason it's so stunning is because, as you say, Mahler breaks away from "I", which he firmly established... and ALWAYS returned to.

As for the serial composers... they were diatonic agnostics in a world where Bach led to AC/DC.
 
#15
So Low Bass said:
You are right. This is true to some extent in all his symphonies, and the reason it's so stunning is because, as you say, Mahler breaks away from "I", which he firmly established... and ALWAYS returned to.
Click to expand...

Well that's where you are wrong !

His Second Symphony 'progresses' from a C minor first movement to an E-flat major conclusion

His Third moves from a first movement which begins in D minor and ends in F major to a finale which ends in D major!

His Fourth in G major dies away in E major.

His fifth symphony moves from a C-sharp minor funeral march, through a conflict-ridden A minor movement, a vigorous dance movement in D major, and a lyrical F major 'Adagietto', to a finale in D major!

The Seventh is tonally highly 'progressive', with a first movement that moves from a (possible) B minor start to an E major conclusion, and a finale in C major.

The Ninth moves from a D major first movement to a D-flat major finale.


Do I need to go on...?
 
#17
M0ses said:
I mean this in no offenseive way, but,
if you don't know squat about the music, you have no business playing it! Or doing anything with it! The first step to arranging classical music for bass is NOT EVER arranging music for bass! It is of course learning about the music. What makes you think that you will be able to produce anything of any quailty if you're just fumbling in the dark?

Listen first. Play later.
Click to expand...

This must be the most condescending post that I've ever seen on any forum.
 
#18
I think there is something in it though - so if you have no understanding of a type of music, then surely any attempt to arrange it for your instrument will be an empty, technical exercise with no meaning..? :hmm:

It would be far better to develop an understanding and of course a love for the music first...?
 
#19
Bruce Lindfield said:
Well that's where you are wrong !

...C minor first movement to an E-flat major

...begins in D minor and ends in F major to a finale which ends in D major!

...G major dies away in E major.

...moves from a C-sharp to a finale in D major!

...B minor start to an E major conclusion, and a finale in C major.

...D major first movement to a D-flat major finale.
Click to expand...

Beethoven’s #5 in c minor ends in C major, and Steppenwolf's Sookie Sookie starts in D modulates to E.

This is exactly what I am saying. You…WE are identifying tonality…keys.

Now, please tell me, AC/DC, and the rest of the musical world what key Webern’s Variations for Orchestra ends in.
 

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