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Double Bass Essential Bass Concerto/Sonata recordings.

Z

Zarathustrah

Apr 21, 2009
26
0
#1
I'm having trouble finding this as an existing thread.

I'm new to classical study and I'm trying to get the sound in the my ear. What are the essential recordings that need to be owned/studied.

I'm looking for recordings that feature a bass soloist.

Any information would be great.
 
#2
Zarathustrah said:
I'm having trouble finding this as an existing thread.

I'm new to classical study and I'm trying to get the sound in the my ear. What are the essential recordings that need to be owned/studied.

I'm looking for recordings that feature a bass soloist.

Any information would be great.
Click to expand...

I think this is pretty subjective. Everyone is going to have a different opinion on what is "essential", and there aren't very many historically significant recordings on bass like say Heifetz or Casals on violin or cello etc. I can tell you a few that I like and listen to pretty regularly:

Ed Barker's recording of Hindemith sonata, Arpegionne and Vivaldi sonata.

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Gary Karr's Koussevitsky concerto and Eccles sonata

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Bob Oppelt's Dragonetti Waltzes

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Edgar Meyer's Bottesini Concerto 2

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Edicson Ruiz's Vanhal concerto

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That's some of the best stuff I can think of offhand.
 
#3
Perhaps have a listen to the Tubin concerto? I think it's one of the more interesting concerti in terms of the actual musical content of the piece... Videos are available on YouTube, I'd recommend the ones where Edicson Ruiz is the soloist. There's also a really good recording of Hakan Ehren playing it which you can buy on Amazon.

Also this piece -

There's an extensive bass solo partway through, and this piece uses a lot of the lower register of the bass, so it's a nice contrast to most of the usual concerti in which you get the soloist flying round at the top.

Sonatas... Maybe try the Hertl? I'd recommend the Duncan McTier recording on his CD 'Sonata', on which you can hear him playing Schubert Arpeggione sonata and the Hindemith too. You can get that on Amazon too for about 7 quid.

Also go on Youtube and put in 'Rinat Ibragimov' or 'Bozo Paradzik' and listen to any of the results. All different approaches to sound. Listen to as much as you can. There are many more I could mention here, but I think those are my personal favourites...
 
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#4
Rinat Ibragimov has done recordings of the "Big Four": Bottesini, Dittersdorf, Koussevitzky and Vanhal, all of which are available on the LSO youtube channel and a quick Youtube search away. They are done in a manner that I would refer to as "Period Informed", by which I mean the Two classical concertos are performed in Viennese tuning (A F# D A low to high), the Bottesini is played on a three-stringed bass, and the Koussevitzky is played on his everyday 4 stringer, but he doesn't play in a heavily period manner (baroque bow, period vibrato, etc).

I would call them required listening even though they only have piano accompaniment because, for one, he does a really good job on all of them, and two, hearing them in this sort of period informed manner is interesting and helpful to students (such as myself).

There's lots of great recordings by all sorts of great players. I encourage you to feed your head and ears and listen to as much as possible.

One more Reccomendation: the Nino Rota Divertimento Concertante for Bass and Orchestra is a fantastic piece that doesn't get played enough in my opinion. Edicson Ruiz does a good version (also available on your friendly neighbourhood Youtube Search function)

eerbrev
 
#7
-Mark Morton. Get everything of his.
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-Edgar Meyer. One of the best. Though most of his stuff is not traditional rep
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-everything and anything by Catalin Rotaru. I only know of one recording he has published ("bassic cello notes" i think?), but the link below has audio of some awesome playing. He also maintains a youtube channel that he adds to frequently.
http://music.asu.edu/strings/multimedia.php

-Thierry Barbe is another really fantastic player. Unfortunately I don't think he has released anything. Any of his youtube videos are worth watching, and there are a ton of them.
 
#9
robobass said:
THAT

BLEW

MY

MIND
Click to expand...

Check out Rinat and his daughter playing the Gran Duo.

IMO: David Anderson's Caprecio No.2 should be up there along with all of Rinat's LSO videos, also Chanson Triste by Serge Koussevitsky, you can find a recording of Serge playing it on youtube.

To the OP, im on my phone right now, ill go search for the videos tonight unless someone out there wants to put em up.
 
#10
Also this piece -
There's an extensive bass solo partway through, and this piece uses a lot of the lower register of the bass, so it's a nice contrast to most of the usual concerti in which you get the soloist flying round at the top.


I have nothing against the standard solo rep, but still, as Cold Elephant said, This is something quite different from the thumb position noodling, Paganini imitating, standard fare which for many has grown old. This piece exploits the visceral and sexual possibilities which a bass and a viola can achieve, and a violin and cello cannot. This is the kind of thing which would move us out of the "pretty good for a big ol' bass" mindset into an equal standing with other string instruments. Anyone know who the composer is? It doesn't seem to say on the Youtube site.
 
#11
The composer is Efrain Oscher. Can't seem to find a website any more, there definitely was one a couple of years ago, a friend of mine who put me on to that piece (I had a similiar reaction robobass!) had just sent an email and got a nice reply and a pdf score.... shame!
 
#13
Oh, I have another one that's good:

Double Bass Recital - Silvio Dalla Torre

this is a cool CD. It's got a recording of the Fuchs sonata, one of the Misek Sonatas, and two other sonatas which I can't remember right now, but are also very enjoyable listens.

Eerbrev
 
#15
Mikyung Sung's "The Colburn Sessions" has excellent recordings of the Hindemith and Montag sonatas, and stunning performances of a few short Bottesini pieces and some violin and cello sonatas. Definitely a must-listen for any bassist.

Her recording and video of the Bottesini Concerto No. 2 is also exquisite (though the pickup orchestra is only mediocre). And of course lots of other pieces on her YouTube channel.
 
#17
Anything with Stefano Scodanibbio, but specially the album Voyage that never ends. This one is, for me, the real voice of double bass. But also Håkon Thelin (Light), John Eckhardt (Xylobiont), Joëlle Léandre's recordings of Giacinto Scelsi and Joseph Warner (alon:es and Shaman Do(o)mes). These are all quite experimental/new music offerings.
 
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#18
Regarding Scodanibbio I purchased the sheet music for Alisei and Voyage (or what there is of Voyage since it was "the work of an entire life") from his widow. It's a fascinating window into this extraordinary piece. (His bass is still for sale I think, not that anyone else is going to be able to get those harmonics out of it!)

Regarding the OPs 11 year-old question the Edicson Ruiz Tan Dun is pretty essential IMHO
 

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