• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Concerto for high school senior

#21
The Kuss concerto isn't really all that exciting. I would rather listen to 100 Capuzzis than One Kuss. That is just me. I agree with you in preforming the Dragonetti, it is boring as hell to preform, and even less musical.

But, he is not talking about preforming, he is asking for advice on a Audition piece, which I am pretty sure is the point of the Dragonetti, and if it isn't why the heck is it played so much.

The Bottesini No.2 Concerto is amazingly hard, way out of reach for many High Schoolers, even if they think they are ready for it. I won't be ready for it, and neither will anyone else I play with. I attend interlochen in the summer and occasionally Eastern Music Festival, which is where I am now. The majority of high schoolers that Play Bottesini or the Kuss are not ready for it, or at least that is the concensus among the players here, and the Faculty here.

All of this is my opinion, and usually I am wrong
 
#22
From the last couple of posts I get this:

The Dragonetti, Koussevitzky, Bottesini II, and Dittersdorf are all of the same difficulty level.

Is this a consensus, because having learned the Dragonetti and now playing the Koussevitzky, I'm inclined to agree for the most part.

If so, does this mean that advanced solo music just sort of plateau's in difficulty? Are some Bach Cello suites truly more difficult than the solos written for our instrument?
 
#23
Dragonetti and Dittersdorf I always thought were around the same level, or at least felt like it. I enjoyed playing ther Dittersdorf, it sounds pretty cool when you get it right. The Dragonetti might as well be an Etude it's so technical. I dont really like that style of playing, but such a short concerto repetoire requires us to play such things.

Bottesini II and Kuss are not at all on the same level, I think Kuss is much much easier than Bottesini.

The Bach cello suites are up there as well. I really love playing them. Prelude to No. 5 in C minor is just so...amazing. Once you play you'll get what I am talking about.

Just my .02
 
#25
Bottesini is certainly harder than Dragonetti and Dittersdorf, in the sense that you have to make real music out of it. It's harder than Koussevitzky because it's faster and is much more notey. However, it's not as much of a struggle onces the notes are under your fingers. This is assuming you have some pretty good chops, but it's not as bad after first glance. I've been working on it since early July, and tonight I was able to play the first movement from memory for Edgar Meyer in a master class. It takes time, and it's not perfect yet, but it will be.

Bach is what gets me. There is nothing out there more challenging for a bassist than the Bach cello suites. The amount of musicality and technique required to play them accurately is very high.
 
#26
I see...I ordered the Bottesini a few weeks ago (still haven't received it, but i'm not worried) and in that time I've been working on the Koussevitzky, and I must say, overall I'm pretty disappointed in the piece. It's not very interesting or innovative, and I consider it to be easier than the last movement of the Eccles Sonata in G Minor (when taken truly Vivace). I do like the double stops at the end of the first movement (I'm a double stop fanatic, and add them whenever I can) but the song is just too short and doesn't do enough to show off the instrument.
 
#30
Illfavor said:
I ordered the International Music Co. version, simply because I don't like how Yorke music looks.
Click to expand...
Yuck. The Int'l edition is a mess. It's all read up an octave, which isn't easy for most people. Plus the piano part is, I believe, for solo tuning, which is an addition pain.

I've found the Yorke to be pleasantly readable and well-laid out. I haven't seen anything else out there by Yorke, but their catalogue seems to have many really good pieces that I can't find elsewhere.
 
#31
To be honest Paul I don't think it's fair to discount these concerti. If there is someone looking for a first concerto then it is quite arrogant to go and say that the Dragonetti etc. isn't worth playing While I may agree with you that it is not the most musically interesting or challenging piece written in history, its not fair to go around and brag about it.
 
#32
Well, seeing as how I'm a sophmore in High School, I wouldn't have any grasp as to what I'd be on when I'm a senior, but at the current moment I'm working on both the Dittersdorf and Bottesini's Elegy. Capuzzi's concerto is probably far too easy for a senior who's working on Classical music. I would recommend the Dittersdorf. Sure, it may not be all that hard to all you out of college players, but it is a great piece to finish off the year with a bang :D
 
#33
PaulCannon said:
Capuzzi? Dragonetti? Dittersdorf?

These aren't difficult pieces by any stretch of the imagination. I learned the Dragonetti as a sophmore in high school. The Eccles was my Frosh project. This last year, my Junior year, I learned the Koussevitzky. Now, with my auditions in mind, I'm learning the second Bottesini concerto and the third Bach suite. The Bach is difficult, but the Bottesini isn't as hard as it looks. It's very notey, but once you have it under your fingers it's not particularly challenging to keep it together.

I would, at the very least, look at the Vanhal or Hoffmeister concerti. They're a little more interesting than Dragonetti or Capuzzi, but not as difficult as Bottesini.
Click to expand...

My son is just learning the Dittersdorf in E. We just got the music so haven't gone over anything with his teacher yet. My question is - what's the deal with the piano part (which I will play) being in E major while the bass part is in D major? Someone mentioned something about different tuning or even different strings! We need to whip this piece together for an April 28 performance.:)
 
#34
I would listen to any concertos under consideration. If you can get your hands on Mark Morton's CDs, vol 1 has the Eccles and the Capuzzi. Vol 2 has the Koussevsky Concerto #3 plus both have a ton of other things done extremely well. Personally. I would suggest every serious player has both. I think you can still hear/download some of them at the ASODB site. At least you could have at one time but check it out. ASODB.com
Tom Gale (ps and I don't get a cut - I even had to pay LIST! Ahhh....)
 
#35
I wouldn't choose the hardest piece to show off. If it is his first concerto I wouldn't go for Bottesini. I started it last june and played it a few months later at a local concerto competition. It didn't go so well. Not because I couldn't play the notes. That is doable in a few months. But to get the musicality of it takes allot of time. I still haven't focused on the third movement yet. Right now I'll spend hours on just a few measure thinking "how can I better vibrate that" or "how can I make it cleaner" or "how can I get the dynamic to speak".

Personally I would choose the Dragonetti. It is learn able in a short amount of time. It is impressive if played right.
 
#36
Yukon4 said:
what's the deal with the piano part (which I will play) being in E major while the bass part is in D major? Someone mentioned something about different tuning or even different strings! We need to whip this piece together for an April 28 performance.:)
Click to expand...

Generally bass music is written for the bass player to be in solo tuning. Solo tuning requires strings that are tuned a whole step above normal orchestral tuning. The bass player will read and play the music as if he/she were playing on orchestral strings but it will sound a whole step up. There is probably a piano part for the Dittersdorf in D out there somewhere.
 
#37
Cory Palmer said:
Generally bass music is written for the bass player to be in solo tuning. Solo tuning requires strings that are tuned a whole step above normal orchestral tuning. The bass player will read and play the music as if he/she were playing on orchestral strings but it will sound a whole step up. There is probably a piano part for the Dittersdorf in D out there somewhere.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I've heard of this... what is the benefit of doing it this way - solo tuning - rather than writing the music so that everyone is on the same page, same key. Does the bass actually sound different or better by tuning the strings in this way, vs not doing solo tuning and simply playing in the same key as piano or orchestra.

Our teacher does have a copy of the piano part in D....thanks!:)
 
#39
Yukon 4,

Playing from a solo tuning part means installing solo strings on your bass. You can't just crank 'em up a step like I did as an undergrad decades ago! (you could ruin the bass.)
Because solo strings allow you to play one step higher, the piano part is written one step lower to make up the difference. The Lemur catalog will have piano parts in orchestral tuning-that's what you want.
 
#40
Simandl Fan said:
Yukon 4,

Playing from a solo tuning part means installing solo strings on your bass. You can't just crank 'em up a step like I did as an undergrad decades ago! (you could ruin the bass.)
Because solo strings allow you to play one step higher, the piano part is written one step lower to make up the difference. The Lemur catalog will have piano parts in orchestral tuning-that's what you want.
Click to expand...

OK, I see. We opted to leave the bass strings as is and I got the piano part in D so we now "match".

We bought the CD of Chi Chi Nwanoku?(can't spell last name) playing the Dittersdorf concerto in E and when following along with our music, I noticed that about 3/4 way through, she kind of jumped way ahead to another section and played something totally different, then backtracked .... I suppose this was just an "artistic liberty" she took? It was way, way off from our music. I've never seen this done with classical recordings before? Just an interesting side note.:)
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back