Double Bass Having pieces "in your arsenal"

[lcpierce]

My goal has always been to have a few pieces I can prepare to performance level fairly quickly. When you’re in college, preparing for a senior or junior recital, you can (and should) spend months preparing for it. However, you don’t always have that kind of time after you graduate. That, and you might get a cool opportunity at the last minute.

Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t learn new music. If you have the time and want to learn an entirely new piece, or revive an old piece you’d played before, you should.

I’m interested in your opinions about this. Do you have pieces “in your arsenal?” Why or why not? If you do, which ones are they? If you don’t, what pieces would you like to be able to relearn and prepare quickly?

Here are mine:
Solo
Bach Suite 1
Bach Suite 5
Bach Suite 2, Prelude
Chorale, Nicholas Walker
Poucha Dass, Francois Rabbath

With Accompaniment
Czardas, Vittorio Monti
Ziguenerweisen, Pablo Sarasate
Le Grand Tango, Astor Piazzolla

 

[MikeCanada]

I think the type of work that you are hired for or seeking plays a part in what you typically have in your arsenal. If you were to talk to jazz players it's amazing how many tunes some of them are very familiar with. A solo recital is on one of the back burners right now but there are plenty of orchestra works that I would consider a part of my arsenal. When I work with an orchestra even if it is a one off, I keep track of what they are playing that season and work excerpts from them in the event that the phone rings. Standard rep is always a good idea, but when the Flying Dutchman came my way and wasn't something I typically looked at it caught me off guard. Similarly I do not play as much chamber music as I would like as convincing quartets they want to play bass quintets isn't easy, but I did add a few more chamber works that I didn't have personal copies of to my library today.

I am curious about the lack of "traditional" bass repertoire on your list such as Bottesini, Koussevitzky, etc. I find some of it not to my personal tastes and I understand that even bass players get tired of hearing Bottesini's Elegy on every single recital. I also haven't attended that many recently and I know that the American scene is quite different from up here. Are works by Rabbath, Walker, and other modern bass composers becoming more common? What else is happening in the solo bass world? If you would care to elaborate on repertoire selection it would be nice to hear how you approach it and what draws you to or away from certain pieces.

 

[lcpierce]

I think the type of work that you are hired for or seeking plays a part in what you typically have in your arsenal. If you were to talk to jazz players it's amazing how many tunes some of them are very familiar with. A solo recital is on one of the back burners right now but there are plenty of orchestra works that I would consider a part of my arsenal. When I work with an orchestra even if it is a one off, I keep track of what they are playing that season and work excerpts from them in the event that the phone rings. Standard rep is always a good idea, but when the Flying Dutchman came my way and wasn't something I typically looked at it caught me off guard. Similarly I do not play as much chamber music as I would like as convincing quartets they want to play bass quintets isn't easy, but I did add a few more chamber works that I didn't have personal copies of to my library today.

I am curious about the lack of "traditional" bass repertoire on your list such as Bottesini, Koussevitzky, etc. I find some of it not to my personal tastes and I understand that even bass players get tired of hearing Bottesini's Elegy on every single recital. I also haven't attended that many recently and I know that the American scene is quite different from up here. Are works by Rabbath, Walker, and other modern bass composers becoming more common? What else is happening in the solo bass world? If you would care to elaborate on repertoire selection it would be nice to hear how you approach it and what draws you to or away from certain pieces.

Interesting you mention orchestral rep - that's a great idea. There was a time when I was subbing quite a bit and it was always a relief to get a piece of music that I had played before. It makes everything so much easier.

I agree with you on the "traditional" solo bass repertoire. If you go to a bass recital, you can almost guarantee one of the standard concertos or a piece by Bottesini will be on it! These pieces aren't in my taste either, but they aren't terrible - just overdone. I do think that modern pieces are becoming more common, or at least I hope so. Pieces like Proto's Carmen Fantasy, Rabbath's music, and even transcriptions of Edgar Meyer's music are being worked into recitals, which is excellent.

Honestly, I think what's becoming more prevalent are the arrangements of music written for other instruments. This has been my direction for the past few years. I am always going to be interested in the modern works for bass, but sometimes I want to play something from the romantic era or the classical era or from a specific composer - to which we don't have many options. There was a period between when Rossini wrote the cello and bass duet and when Hindemeth wrote the bass sonata that nothing was written for our instrument, which means we lost out on a ton of amazing composers writing for us. Even before that, not much was written for solo bass. Bottesini was great, but his melodies and harmonies just don't compare to Beethoven's.

Of course, there is an entirely different topic over how to choose a piece that's written for another instrument, because some pieces just aren't going to sound good on the bass. I've tried a lot of things that don't work, but the pieces that do work really well.

 

[neilG]

There was a period between when Rossini wrote the cello and bass duet and when Hindemeth (sic) wrote the bass sonata that nothing was written for our instrument, which means we lost out on a ton of amazing composers writing for us.

It's not reasonable to believe that no bass literature was written between 1824 and 1949. It's out there, you just have to research it. There is a ton of literature written for the bass if you are willing to look, and, unfortunately, spend a bit of money to obtain it. Generally, music gets lost for two reasons: one, it's not very good; two: nobody buys it and it stops being published. As an example of researching works, I have a list of over 450 pieces written for solo DB written by composers who lived before and after Hindemith. Unless you just have to play music by the "greats" (not a bad thing), there's little reason to look to other instruments for literature. Do you have a video of the Walker "Chorale"?

 

[lcpierce]

It's not reasonable to believe that no bass literature was written between 1824 and 1949. It's out there, you just have to research it. There is a ton of literature written for the bass if you are willing to look, and, unfortunately, spend a bit of money to obtain it. Generally, music gets lost for two reasons: one, it's not very good; two: nobody buys it and it stops being published. As an example of researching works, I have a list of over 450 pieces written for solo DB written by composers who lived before and after Hindemith. Unless you just have to play music by the "greats" (not a bad thing), there's little reason to look to other instruments for literature. Do you have a video of the Walker "Chorale"?

Great points. However, I have found that music written for other instruments challenges me technically and musically in a way that bass repertoire generally doesn't.

I would love to see your list, though. It would be excellent to expand our repertoire!

Nicholas Walker has a recording of himself playing the Chorale on YouTube. I'll find it and post it once I'm in front of my computer.

 

[csrund]

Lauren,

Have you heard Fauré's Berceuse, Op. 16? I'll bet you could practically sight read it. Beautiful little piece. Discovered it on the radio one morning, recorded by a violinist. (I think Lucas Drew actually transcribed an edition for bass many years ago.)

Chris

 

[lcpierce]

Lauren,

Have you heard Fauré's Berceuse, Op. 16? I'll bet you could practically sight read it. Beautiful little piece. Discovered it on the radio one morning, recorded by a violinist. (I think Lucas Drew actually transcribed an edition for bass many years ago.)

Chris

I haven't, but thank you for telling me about it - I'll definitely check it out!

 

[csrund]

I haven't, but thank you for telling me about it - I'll definitely check it out!

Here 'tis:

 

[neilG]

Great points. However, I have found that music written for other instruments challenges me technically and musically in a way that bass repertoire generally doesn't.

The bass rep that you know. Most bassists don't know much more than a small portion of what's available.

I would love to see your list, though. It would be excellent to expand our repertoire!

I'm happy to share it. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Maybe this can be posted as a sticky in "Music" and people can post additions and corrections to it.

Nicholas Walker has a recording of himself playing the Chorale on YouTube. I'll find it and post it once I'm in front of my computer.

Thanks, I found it.

 

[lcpierce]

Here 'tis:

That's beautiful. I think I might have just added another piece to my arsenal

 

[MikeCanada]

It's not reasonable to believe that no bass literature was written between 1824 and 1949. It's out there, you just have to research it. There is a ton of literature written for the bass if you are willing to look, and, unfortunately, spend a bit of money to obtain it. Generally, music gets lost for two reasons: one, it's not very good; two: nobody buys it and it stops being published. As an example of researching works, I have a list of over 450 pieces written for solo DB written by composers who lived before and after Hindemith. Unless you just have to play music by the "greats" (not a bad thing), there's little reason to look to other instruments for literature. Do you have a video of the Walker "Chorale"?

There is a lot of bass music that isn't worth writing off. Some of it is really quite nice and although Lauren and I mentioned that Bottesini tends to be overplayed, I quite enjoy hearing it. There is also a growing body of works thanks to some very talented bassists who are proving it can be a solo instrument. I am not suggesting I should be mentioned in the same sentence as Joel Quarrington, Edgar Meyer, DaXun Zhang, Tomoya Aomori, Thomas Martin, Rabbath, and the countless others I am neglecting to mention, but I have commissioned a few pieces and would like to do so again in the future. Most of the music we have at our disposal was either commissioned by and/or written with specific musician(s) in mind, and continuing that tradition is very important.

Unfortunately solo bass repertoire is not a very large market so a lot of it does not get published or remain in print very long. Unless you have connections to other bassists who can recommend something or have a score to share, plenty of it basically disappears. Further compounding the issue is that many of us would not place a special order for the music without having heard a recording or looked at a score. The recordings are hard to come by which I will again blame on a small market, and most sheet music stores I have been in have a rather unimpressive collection of bass music for score browsing. I will not purchase solo music without having looked at the score or spending significant amount of time with a recording, as there are some things that are just not possible in 5ths. The Hindemith sonata being a good example.

The Bottesini and Koussevitzky concertos are nice pieces of music, but they aren't the Mendelssohn or Brahms violin concertos, Shostakovitch or Dvorak cello concertos, Grieg or Liszt piano concertos etc. Yes there are other concertos that have been written since, yet a lot of bass music doesn't stand up to music written for other instruments. On your point about music getting lost because it isn't very good, bass composers do not fair well. Dittersdorf was extremely prolific, Vanhal published over 50 symphonies, Bottesini wrote a dozen operas, all of which has largely been forgotten save for the bass music we cling to. When compared to music by "the greats" it stands to reason a lot of it was forgotten because it wasn't particularly memorable.

It is also quite common for instruments that do not have the luxury of vast amounts of solo repertoire to borrow music from other instruments. Viola, low brass, and saxophones come to mind along with double bass. There is a lot of fantastic music out there that was not written for our instrument, and I would compare limiting our choices to music specifically written for double bass to limiting your choice of red wine to exclusively Italian origin. You will find something you like and you might have to look a little more for variety, but you are needlessly excluding the lion's share of possibilities.

Great points. However, I have found that music written for other instruments challenges me technically and musically in a way that bass repertoire generally doesn't.

I found learning the Shostakovitch cello sonata really made me grow as a bassist. It requires a really broad range of techniques, and musically just about everything is in there. While I was challenged by a lot of bass repertoire, working on those pieces felt more like overcoming challenges than growing as a player. Your experience may have been similar or quite different, but it seemed almost like learning music originally written for another instrument was stimulating my bass player brain and something more.

The bass rep that you know. Most bassists don't know much more than a small portion of what's available.

I'm happy to share it. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Maybe this can be posted as a sticky in "Music" and people can post additions and corrections to it.

Neil, that is quite a large list of largely composers I have not encountered before. While at school we did have a fairly large collection of solo bass music in the library that was donated from the personal collection of a former faculty member, and music department libraries can be an extremely valuable resource for those who have access to them.

All of this talk has me thinking about going through my rather limited library and dusting off some of my former arsenal as well.

 

[neilG]

There is a lot of fantastic music out there that was not written for our instrument, and I would compare limiting our choices to music specifically written for double bass to limiting your choice of red wine to exclusively Italian origin. You will find something you like and you might have to look a little more for variety, but you are needlessly excluding the lion's share of possibilities.

With all due respect, I categorically reject the notion that bass music so limited in scope, which is what you seem to be implying. That would be true if you stuck to the "usual". There's no limit to the variety of music available that's meant for the bass originally. I'm not saying NOT to play other music, of course, but some exploration will show there's some interesting stuff out there.

 

[MikeCanada]

With all due respect, I categorically reject the notion that bass music so limited in scope, which is what you seem to be implying. That would be true if you stuck to the "usual". There's no limit to the variety of music available that's meant for the bass originally. I'm not saying NOT to play other music, of course, but some exploration will show there's some interesting stuff out there.

I will admit that I do not have extensive knowledge of double bass solo repertoire. It is not something I do on a regular basis outside of practicing for my own enjoyment. I also agree that there is a lot of bass music out there that I have not found yet and if I am not finding something that scratches a particular itch, I likely would if I looked harder.

Exclusively playing music originally written for your instrument does limit your options though. There might be more bass options than many of us are familiar with, but the vast majority of solo or solo + accompaniment music was not written for double bass and we are creating an unnecessary barrier by suggesting that something cannot be played unless on the instruments it was composed for. There are a lot of examples of composers who reorchestrated their own works for solo piano, chamber ensembles, or orchestras, or recycled a tune they particularly liked into another work. Some things work particularly well on the instrument they were written for and with extended techniques they might only be possible on a limited number of instruments. Transcribing piano music for solo bass likely wouldn't go very well where borrowing cello solos tends to be a pretty safe bet.

On the other hand, sometimes something really great can happen with music on a new instrument. A performance that has stuck with me for a lot of years was the Adagio movement from Bach's E major violin concerto... performed on tuba. I was learning it on violin at the time and the purist in me didn't want to give it a fair shot, but I learned a lot that day. It can be a gamble playing music written for another instrument as you will inevitably have someone who thinks it shouldn't be done or it sounds better "the way it's supposed to be". There's also a chance that you bring a piece of music to someone in a way they never considered before and it really speaks to them. It's a gamble worth taking.

I am not saying abandon all bass music, but I am also saying that it's a big world out there if you are willing to do some transcription work.

 

[lcpierce]

I will admit that I do not have extensive knowledge of double bass solo repertoire. It is not something I do on a regular basis outside of practicing for my own enjoyment. I also agree that there is a lot of bass music out there that I have not found yet and if I am not finding something that scratches a particular itch, I likely would if I looked harder.

Exclusively playing music originally written for your instrument does limit your options though. There might be more bass options than many of us are familiar with, but the vast majority of solo or solo + accompaniment music was not written for double bass and we are creating an unnecessary barrier by suggesting that something cannot be played unless on the instruments it was composed for. There are a lot of examples of composers who reorchestrated their own works for solo piano, chamber ensembles, or orchestras, or recycled a tune they particularly liked into another work. Some things work particularly well on the instrument they were written for and with extended techniques they might only be possible on a limited number of instruments. Transcribing piano music for solo bass likely wouldn't go very well where borrowing cello solos tends to be a pretty safe bet.

On the other hand, sometimes something really great can happen with music on a new instrument. A performance that has stuck with me for a lot of years was the Adagio movement from Bach's E major violin concerto... performed on tuba. I was learning it on violin at the time and the purist in me didn't want to give it a fair shot, but I learned a lot that day. It can be a gamble playing music written for another instrument as you will inevitably have someone who thinks it shouldn't be done or it sounds better "the way it's supposed to be". There's also a chance that you bring a piece of music to someone in a way they never considered before and it really speaks to them. It's a gamble worth taking.

I am not saying abandon all bass music, but I am also saying that it's a big world out there if you are willing to do some transcription work.

I agree with you. Admittedly, I do a fair amount of transcriptions (if you look at my YouTube channel, only one piece isn't originally for bass), so I'm a bit biased.

When you play music written for another instrument, you not only have the challenge of learning the piece, but also figuring out how it can be adapted to your instrument. If a piece was written for, say, the violin, you're going to run into passages that are awkward and almost impossible to play on the bass because they are meant for the violin. Because of this, your technique can be pushed to the farthest edges it can go. I have yet to find a piece written for bass that is as difficult for me as the violin part to the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia or Herbert's second cello concerto.

If you look at the greatest solo bassists we have today, they are all playing music for other instruments. Edgar Meyer writes his own music of course, but he has also played the Bach cello suites, Zigeunerweisen, fiddle tunes, and more I'm surely forgetting. In fact, he has mentioned that his technique improved tremendously when he was learning and competing in fiddle competitions.

Catalin Rotaru is possibly the greatest example. He has transcribed and recorded an unbelievable amount of music for other instruments and sounds fantastic. Jeff Bradetich recently recorded the Elgar cello concerto, and has consistently been searching and performing transcriptions. Bozo Paradzik, Rinat Ibragimov, and Craig Butterfield are just another small handful. These are some of our best performers and they clearly see great importance in transcribing.

The greatest case for playing music written for other instruments is the Bach cello suites. I do agree that you cannot limit yourself to only playing music by the greats, but if we did not learn Bach, we would not only be limiting ourselves technically, but we would be missing out on learning and analyzing music from one of - if not the - greatest composers to have ever lived. Learning music written by a composer of that caliber is important for our musicality - they were considered "the greats" for a reason.

Although I agree bass players could look inward a bit more and expand our repertoire that has already been written for bass, there are immeasurable benefits from playing music written for other instruments.

 

[eerbrev]

The bass rep that you know. Most bassists don't know much more than a small portion of what's available.

I'm happy to share it. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Maybe this can be posted as a sticky in "Music" and people can post additions and corrections to it.

Hey Neil,

What's that Bille piece like? I noticed that there's a Bille concerto in the Zimmerman collection in New York, and was curious about what his compositions are like.

___

I think that we as bassists need to be circumspect about the pieces we arrange. There are lots of pieces that have entered the repertoire that, were you to compare the recording of a bassist playing it to the original instrument, the result is embarrassment. I'll save my opinion of bassists performing the cello suites to myself - I've stated it here before and it's unpopular, so I'll leave it at that - but there are pieces that arrange well for the bass and pieces that don't. I think we need to:

a.) perform pieces that arrange well for the bass, and be circumspect about our choices. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

b.) champion pieces that were written for the bass, and were "forgotten", or just aren't in the standard rep.

How often do you hear the Misek sonatas performed? The Bottesini F#minor concerto was popular for a while (or so I've heard), but doesn't get a lot of play now - It's hard as hell, and has a lot of musicality to it - It's a proper concerto, unlike the B minor (which is actually a concertino). The Rota "Divertimento" doesn't get half the play it should. There are Two suites for solo bass that I can call to memory right away (the Fryba and the Weinberg), and there are at least a few more.

Anyways, I could go on, but I'm sure I've made my opinion clear and that most people are sick of reading it. I hear lots of people talk smack about how pieces written for the bass are bad, but they don't look for the quality pieces either.

 

[lcpierce]

a.) perform pieces that arrange well for the bass, and be circumspect about our choices. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

b.) champion pieces that were written for the bass, and were "forgotten", or just aren't in the standard rep.

I agree with you there that some pieces just aren't a good fit for the bass. However, I think being circumspect isn't always a good thing - the only way we can grow and figure out what works and what doesn't is to take risks. Sometimes those risks equal great performing material that can be brought into the standard rep. If not, the player's technique has certainly not suffered by learning it.

On the other hand, if a piece doesn't sound fabulous, I do agree you should think twice before performing it.

Thumbs up for mentioning Misek and Rota. I'm a huge fan of the works by Misek. I've actually seen them performed pretty regularly here in Texas and when I was in school in South Carolina, so I hope they haven't fallen out of fashion already.

 

[neilG]

Hey Neil,

What's that Bille piece like? I noticed that there's a Bille concerto in the Zimmerman collection in New York, and was curious about what his compositions are like.

Here's a scan of it: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Nothing great, but interesting. As to the concerto, well, someone has to go to the Library and either hand-copy or get permission to photocopy the piece. There are copyright issues since he only died in 1961.

 

[eerbrev]

Here's a scan of it: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Nothing great, but interesting. As to the concerto, well, someone has to go to the Library and either hand-copy or get permission to photocopy the piece. There are copyright issues since he only died in 1961.

Do we know if anyone's done doctoral work in the Zimmermann collection? I guess it would surprise me if they haven't. It would be super interesting to see.

 

[Steve Freides]

I think it's a great education to transcribe music from another instrument - great education for the transcriber, but not always great to listen to for someone else. Maybe great to play but still not great for the listener.

One way to look at this was put forth by Glenn Gould in a TV interview that's on YouTube. He said that some music is about its own structure - transcribes well - while other music is idiomatic to an particular instrument - does not. There's a lot of Bach that translates well to different instruments, but I cringe every time someone tells me about a Chopin piano piece transcribed for classical guitar.

-S-

 

[Les Fret]

but I cringe every time someone tells me about a Chopin piano piece transcribed for classical guitar.

Yet a piece like Asturias from Albeniz sounds better on guitar than on piano where it was originally written for. Same goes for most pieces from Granados. But I agree Chopin sounds better on piano.