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Double Bass Favorite Chamber Music featuring Double Bass

DBeauregard

DBeauregard

Jan 22, 2013
40
0
#1
What is some of your favorite chamber music featuring double bass?

I've been listening to Antonín Dvořák's String Quintet No. 2 a lot lately and have been practicing it along with a wonderful recording featuring Gary Karr.
 
#3
The Vaughan Williams Piano Quintet is one of my personal favourites. It's got a really interactive and involved bass part as well. The bass isn't just playing the harmony, it's got an integral part.

these guys do a pretty good job. I picked this recording because the bass balance is good (wear some headphones if your speakers suck like mine do):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLpb_g2B0uA

Edit: another recording, with steady-cam on the bassist!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=00_dCHIqLmw
 
#6
eerbrev said:
The Vaughan Williams Piano Quintet is one of my personal favourites. It's got a really interactive and involved bass part as well. The bass isn't just playing the harmony, it's got an integral part.

these guys do a pretty good job. I picked this recording because the bass balance is good (wear some headphones if your speakers suck like mine do):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLpb_g2B0uA
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the video, it's nice to be able to watch what the bass is doing every so often. This is going to be one I'll have to learn.
 
#9
Thanks for another great thread! I've been lacking in exposure to chamber music with db parts. Lots of good items to put on the listening list now.

As a footnote, I called up a few YouTube performances of Mozart's Per "Questa Bella Mano" last week. While an operatic work, it has a "chamber-like" character and is often performed with voice, db and piano reduction of the orchestral score.

Cheers!
 
#12
DBeauregard said:
His chamber music blows my mind, especially his string quartets.
Click to expand...

I don't know them - I'll have to check them out. Thanks!

I played the Nonet last year and it was lots of fun. The third movement is pretty frenetic - the notes aren't hard but the counting is. For people in New England, I think the BSO chamber players are playing it at the Rockport Music Festival this summer.
 
#14
The 6 Rossini String Sonatas are good fun and the instrumentation (vln 1, vln 2, cello and bass) gives the bass more little solos and control of the bass line.

The cello plays more of a tenor part like a viola with cojones. Plus you don't have to deal with an out of tune cellist.

And they were written when he was only 12 years old!

There is also the Rossini Duet for Bass and Cello . It has lots of melodies and challenging licks. It is also very operatic and you can make up a story line to sell it to the audience if you like. (man and woman arguing, etc.)
 
#17
shaktipat said:
While Hoffmeister is certainly not on par with his contemporaries like Mozart and Haydn, the quartets for vln, vla, vc and db have a prominent bass part.
Click to expand...

Aren't they for Vln Vla Vc and Solo Bass? maybe that's just the way they're marketed.

Lots of great pieces in this thread. Anyone heard of the Onslow Or Ferrenc piano Quintets?

There's also the Hummel Quintet. I did a project on the Trout for a Patronage class in my undergrad, and Sylvester Paumgartener, the guy who commissioned Schubert to write the A major Quintet had the Sheet music for the Hummel Quintet, which is of the same instrumentation. It's assumed that Paumgartener commissioned Schubert for the A Major so that they would have another piece to play for a concert of the same instrumentation.

There's actually two Hummel Quintets. I can't find my paper (probably on my external hard drive somewhere) but I think I linked to the right one.

cheers,

eerbrev
 
#18
There aren't many classics for us, but there's a ton of newer stuff.

Lucy and the Count by Jon Deak is a lot of fun.

I'm a big fan of the Scodanibbio duos, particularly Jardin d'Hamilcar for violin and bass. It's easily the hardest piece I've ever played, but well worth the work. There's also a new violin/bass duo by Penderecki that's really great.

The Erwin Schullhoff Concertino for flute, viola, and bass is fantastic.
 
#19
PaulCannon said:
I'm a big fan of the Scodanibbio duos, particularly Jardin d'Hamilcar for violin and bass. It's easily the hardest piece I've ever played, but well worth the work. There's also a new violin/bass duo by Penderecki that's really great.

The Erwin Schullhoff Concertino for flute, viola, and bass is fantastic.
Click to expand...

I'll have to look up the Scodanibbio pieces - I've only heard what's available on YouTube, which is mostly solo stuff. He was an incredible talent.

Glad you brought up the Schulhoff. I've wanted to try that one out for a while - it's a great piece, and it's the sort of thing that'll keep the fl[a]utists and violists happy as well.
 
#20
Another amazing piece of music scored for a small chamber ensemble is the Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss. While most of us know this work as a piece for 23 solo strings, it was originally conceived for string septet.

The realization for string septet was created by Rudolf Leopold in 1994. A fantastic recording of the work with this instrumentation was made by the Brandis Quartet (originally of the Berlin Philharmonic) with Rainer Zepperitz (long time principal of the Berlin Philharmonic) on Double-Bass.
 

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