In the Cellar with the Contrabass

[torut]

Does anyone have this?

Gubaidulina - Chamber Music With Double Bass
[asin]B005VD3YWW[/asin]

If you use emusic.com, please check the tracks carefully, because Disc 1 Track 1-10 seem wrong (the track times are different from what are shown in Neos website.) I reported it to emusic.com and they are now checking, but it is taking time.
Disc 1 looks most interesting because they were composed for double bass. Sonata for double bass and piano is very good. Most of disc 2-3 are arrangements of cello/bassoon works. Duo (In Croce) and Trio (Silenzio) including bayan (Russian chromatic button accordion) are interesting due to nice contrast between bayan's strange sound and double bass's deep sound. I think they are famous in the original format for cello, but I have not heard them.

[torut]

Berio - Psy for solo Doublebass
Edicson Ruiz
Live from the Chambermusic Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie
http://www.youtube.com/v/5Ke1VyF09NU

Berio/Scodanibbio - Sequenza XIVb for double bass
Anton Jaro jr.
Live recording at studio in Banska Bystrica (Slovak Republic, 15th of december 2012)
http://www.youtube.com/v/2OjCzNeFuBo

This version was prompted by an invitation I received from Luciano Berio in 2002 to 're-invent' (rather than transcribe) for the doublebass his Sequenza XIV for violoncello, putting into play the innovations that have transformed the instrument over the last decades. Hence the employment of great diversity of instrumental techniques, the adaptations to the physical characteristics of the doublebass and the exploitation of its particular timbral qualities.
My reflection of some passages of the original, that are particularly suited for further development on the doublebass, has led me to add three short newly composed 'tributes' (among witch a cadenza) that make explicit reference to other Sequenzas ( Sequenza XI for guitar, Sequenza VIII for violin). these additions appear in the score within square brackets and in smaller print.
Stefano Scodanibbio - 2004

Sequenza XIVb sometimes sounds like (free)jazz, while Psy sounds more classical.

I think this 4-CD set is the only commercial recording of Sequenza XIVb, played by Scodanibbio himself. It also includes Psy. Naxos 3-CD (I ~ XIV, VIIb, IXb) set does not contain either. I have Ensemble InterContemporain's 3-CD set on DG which contains only I ~ XIII & IXb.
[asin]B000EUMKDQ[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Only a modest piece, of course, but (I think) good fun.

[torut]

Only a modest piece, of course, but (I think) good fun.

Thank you for sharing it. It is a short piece going through different moods, but overall very soothing and relaxing. Your clarinet playing is nice with melancholic sound.

[torut]

Vincent Persichetti (1915 - 1987) - Parable XVII for Double Bass, Op. 131 (1974)
played by Uxia Martinez Botana
https://www.youtube.com/v/T93WcrvtVj4

Persichetti was an American composer, teacher (at the Juilliard School) and pianist. His students at Juilliard included Philip Glass, Michael Jeffrey Shapiro, Kenneth Fuchs, Richard Danielpour, Robert Dennis, Peter Schickele, Lowell Liebermann, Robert Witt, Elena Ruehr, Randell Croley, William Schimmel, Leonardo Balada, and Leo Brouwer. He composed a collection of instrumental works called Parables (1965-1986), like Berio's Sequenza. Parables consists of 25 works, most of which are for solo instruments.

[torut]

James Tenney - Beast for contrabass (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/v/qax9J9HWa4k

From liner notes of Postal Pieces:

The postal pieces, which Tenney called "Scorecards," are a remarkable series of eleven short works printed on postcards. Each card contains a complete if minimally stated work to be performed by instrumentalists.

[...]

Beast, written for Buell Neidlinger, the great jazz and classical bassist, is one of the most well known and performed of the set. It is a study in rhythm, using the low frequency first order difference tones (or slow beats) produced by the simultaneous sounding of two bass strings whose relative intonation is constantly changing. The bass low E-string is tuned to Eb, and assuming and A=440 c.p.s. (55 c.p.s. three octaves below), a little calculation shows that, as Tenney says, the open tritone below it has a frequency of about 38.8 c.p.s.. The maximum amount of beats produced, or the "quickest" tempo of the piece is about 16 per second. (In comparison, a just tuned E below would have a frequency of 41.25 c.p.s., producing 13.75 beats per second). One can see that the number of beats per second produced is directly proportional to the distance from the unison, since the frequency differences increase accordingly. (This should not of course be confused with the relative consonance of an interval, which might be related more closely to the entire system of beat frequencies between the spectra of two tones. See Tenney's "consonance-dissonance" theory for more on this).

Beast, whose title also connotes a jazz-vernacular homage to Neidlinger's virtuosity, is seven minutes long. Its form is simply related to the Fibonacci sequence and to the idea of recursive replication of inner forms (as in so much of Tenney's earlier music, like Quiet Fan for Erik Satie, and the computer pieces). Incidentally, this type of thinking predates by many years the later interest of many composers in the use of recursive, self-similar ideas such as fractals, functions whose "shape" is replicated at infinitely many levels of detail. The score indicates the "target" values for the beat frequencies, connecting them sinusoidally, with each of the four large humps made up of smaller ones which resemble Tenney's characteristic "swell" shape. The durations of the four large humps, whose respective target beat-per-second values are 3, 6, 10, and 15 (a series of linearly increasing differences), are 1 minute, 1 minute, 2 minutes and 3 minutes (as in the first four terms of the Fibonacci sequence). In addition, the intermediate values in each of these larger shapes are 1, 3, 6, 10, and 15. The intervals that roughly correspond to these target values are: a 53¢ flat major third (55/45 = 11/9 = 10 Hz); a 32¢ flat major second (55/49 = 6 Hz); a 3¢ flat semitone (55/52 = 3 Hz); and a sixth-tone (55/54 = 1 Hz). In performance, this is all done by ear, and the performer need not be versed in intonational arithmetic. I have heard Beast many times: It is a stark and unassumingly beautiful sonic meditation. Like the other postal pieces, it asks more questions than it answers.

The score

[torut]

Salvatore Sciarrino - Esplorazione del Bianco I per contrabbasso (1986)
Scott Worthington, double bass

https://www.youtube.com/v/FIAdcrNjUrA

[torut]

George Perle - Monody II (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/v/DEGqM33C4VQ

From liner notes of Modern American Bass

George Perle (1915–2009) was one of the most original of the New York serialists. A scholar of the Second Viennese School, he developed a theory of twelve-tone harmony which created some of the most pleasingly lyrical and coherent music of his circle. His Monody II (1962) is a whirlwind of compact musical ideas. Like so much music written from a modernist stance, it demands close listening. With concentration, and perhaps multiple listening, one hears several basic micro-ideas cycling, a kind of motivic kaleidoscope. Yet Perle also always had a strong "classical" temperament, and these are never ambiguous or blurredly elided. They are always clear and distinct, no matter how fast they fly by. And the breakneck pizzicati sections are a wonder to behold.

I finally found an album that contains Druckman's Valentine. The works in Disc 1 are for bass and piano, and they are more traditional. Disc 2 consists of solo double bass works which are more experimental or Avant-Garde. Both discs are enjoyable in different ways.

Modern American Bass ~ Robert Black, bass; John McDonald, piano

[asin]B005OLC5XA[/asin]

Disc 1
  Joseph Iadone: Sonata for Double Bass and Piano
  Halsey Stevens: Arioso and Etude
  Quincy Porter: Lyric Piece for Contrabass and Piano
  Jerome Moross: Sonatina
  Otto Luening: Suite for Bass and Piano
  Johanna Beyer: Movement for Double Bass and Piano
Disc 2
  Barney Childs: Sonata for Bass Alone
  George Perle: Monody II
  William Sydeman: For Double Bass Alone
  John Cage: 59 ½ " for a String Player
  James Tenney: Beast
  Jacob Druckman: Valentine

[torut]

This is very good, so I put a link here.

Gérard Zinsstag ~ Innanzi (1978) for double-bass and orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/v/RQHgR8fbvm0

[torut]

Kaija Saariaho - Folia, for double bass and electronics (1995)
Scott Worthington, recorded on March 1, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/v/529TmBykJRY

[torut]

Edith Canat de Chizy - Danse de l'aube (1998) pour contrebasse
Marc Siffert, contrebasse
https://www.youtube.com/v/SY-IOUD89Lc

[snyprrr]

I am interested in contrabass music, especially solo contrabass.
There is an older thread SOLO CONTRABASS, which is short, but I learned some interesting names.

I got the following albums, thank to these threads. They are all good.

Fernando Grillo: Fluvine
[asin]B000V3PQNC[/asin]
Bass solo with panoramic sound projection. Uno is free jazz like music with interesting spatial sound effect. Due is a quiet, static music with subtlety. Tre starts with growling low sound, then adding squeaking notes that morph to distorted funky riff. The last Quattro is the longest, most dramatic music going through a variety of strange sounds. Attracting from the beginning to the end.

Scodanibbio: Geografia Amorosa and other Works for Double Bass
[asin]B005Q13122[/asin]
This album also has a variety of music, from fast flowing melodious one to austere music. Not boring at all. I liked Geografia Amorosa that starts with impressive bending phrase, kind of hypnotic; Due Pezzi Brillanti, fast flowing, melodious; Marche Bancale, (seemingly) freely running high-notes melody on two repeated low notes; Sparse/quiet/austere e/statico & Alisei.

Aperghis: Teeter-Totter
Parlando for double bass solo (2007)
[asin]B007HSDO1K[/asin]
This is an aggressive, strong music.

I feel like these are free improvisation, although they are all composed (I believe.)

Hey!

Missed your contributions! Yes- thanks for all the great video- you're really making me go bonkers, as if I need to find a new area of interest! That NewWorld set of bass pieces has been tempting me, as a lot of the cds you've posted, but I just can't afford to luxuriate in bass cds as much as it makes me sweat just thinking of it!

Is there no other recording of Grillo? I mean, I'd looove to have heard 'Theraps'. Or anything. I don't know how much I can take all-bass extravaganzas, but the Scodanibbio recital with the Ardittis has some great stuff. And I enjoy that Aperghis pieces too. Yes, most all of the Modern Composers have allowed the bass to speak to them positively, mm...

Should I change the Thread Title?

Anyhow, glad you're o nboard,- carry on!

[torut]

Hey!

Missed your contributions! Yes- thanks for all the great video- you're really making me go bonkers, as if I need to find a new area of interest! That NewWorld set of bass pieces has been tempting me, as a lot of the cds you've posted, but I just can't afford to luxuriate in bass cds as much as it makes me sweat just thinking of it!

Is there no other recording of Grillo? I mean, I'd looove to have heard 'Theraps'. Or anything. I don't know how much I can take all-bass extravaganzas, but the Scodanibbio recital with the Ardittis has some great stuff. And I enjoy that Aperghis pieces too. Yes, most all of the Modern Composers have allowed the bass to speak to them positively, mm...

Should I change the Thread Title?

Anyhow, glad you're o nboard,- carry on!

That is the only Grillo album I found. (Now out of print, and $57 at amazon.com! I got it at emusic.)
I don't mind the thread title, but isn't it convenient if this is combined with the old solo contrabass thread?
I appreciate that you started many interesting threads. Please maintain them.

[torut]

Some solo double bass works by composers I learned recently.

Simon Steen-Andersen - Next To Beside Besides #1 (2005-2008) (amplified double bass)
[audio]http://www.simonsteenandersen.dk/mp3/SSA-NTBB1.mp3[/audio]


Eva-Maria Houben - Nachtstück für kontrabass (2007)
played by Dominic Lash
https://www.youtube.com/v/0Xddn63vk2E

[Karl Henning]

Thank you for sharing it. It is a short piece going through different moods, but overall very soothing and relaxing. Your clarinet playing is nice with melancholic sound.

Thank you!

[torut]

Christopher Roberts - Trios for Deep Voices for three double basses
Christopher Roberts, Mark Morton, James Bergman

[asin]B001OD8DYC[/asin]

http://www.coldbluemusic.com/pages/CB0030.html

There are moments that it reminds me of minimalism and sometimes of solo cello works of Ernst Reijseger, but overall, the mood is contemplative. I like this work a lot.

[torut]

Jim Fox - Descansos, past, for a five-string double bass and nine cellos (2004)

[asin]B0007X9TU2[/asin]

Slow, evocative music, reminiscent of Gavin Bryars's works. I am impressed by the beautiful harmony of cello ensemble that reminds me of Whittington's string quartet.

[yeongil]

I've come to like the idea of the double bass tuned in fifths instead of fourths. Joel Quarrington is one advocate of this: http://joelquarrington.com/showcase/tuning-the-bass-in-fifths/ .  The bass is tuned CGDA, an octave below the cello.  Would like to see some videos of a bassist playing such a bass (haven't found many on Youtube).

[jochanaan]

I've come to like the idea of the double bass tuned in fifths instead of fourths. Joel Quarrington is one advocate of this: http://joelquarrington.com/showcase/tuning-the-bass-in-fifths/ .  The bass is tuned CGDA, an octave below the cello.  Would like to see some videos of a bassist playing such a bass (haven't found many on Youtube).

Could some of the bass players here speak to the difficulties of such tuning?  I only know the "bassics" of that instrument, but the fingering difficulties would seem prohibitive, especially with metal strings...!