# Double bass players:



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I am ignorant about the development of this instrument.

In an old program note about the Mahler first, Michael Steinberg mentioned that, back in the day, opening the slow movement with a double bass version of the slow "Frere Jacques" theme must have "sounded just awful" -- with the implication that Mahler must have intended that effect.

That brings to mind one of my favorite Beethoven jokes: the tripping double bass theme in the trio of the Fifth symphony. Giving it to the lumbering basses is funny enough, but would that have sounded awful also? Or is fast music easier to play on that instrument?

Just curious.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Lots of good things for for double bass, for example check the Klaus Huber on this CD









And the Rebecc Saunders here









And Lene Grenager's music for double bass here


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Hoffmeister: Quartets with Double Bass

Sperger: Double Bass Concertos Nos. 2 & 15 

Edward Tubin: Double Bass Concerto

Dittersdorf & Vanhal: Double Bass Concertos

Try these ones.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

I've always thought the Double Bass (and the viola) are criminally underappreciated instruments. At least the bass gets the love it deserves in jazz.


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## Oscar South (Aug 6, 2020)

I've always liked the fact that an instrument which seems to have started out designed for the functional role of strengthening low frequency content has seen (probably) more historical adoption, mobility and romanticisation in offshoot and contemporary genres than any other orchestral instrument that I can think of.

(professional double bass player for mainly jazz and folk repertoire here).


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites, Performed on Double Bass

View attachment 143570


Edgar Meyer is a Nashville bassist who for many years played bluegrass and other forms of roots music before using his classical training to perform with Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Thile in a group of remarkable recordings. This transcription of the cello suites for double bass is a good example of what the instrument can do in the hands of a virtuoso.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I doubt that Beethoven expected it to sound bad. He knew and was influenced by the bass virtuoso Domrnico Dragonetti.....they performed together...Beethoven no doubt wrote those famous bass passages knowing that they could be played well.


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## Durendal (Oct 24, 2018)

GucciManeIsTheNewWebern said:


> I've always thought the Double Bass (and the viola) are criminally underappreciated instruments. At least the bass gets the love it deserves in jazz.


And rockabilly/psychobilly.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

MarkW said:


> I am ignorant about the development of this instrument.
> 
> In an old program note about the Mahler first, Michael Steinberg mentioned that, back in the day, opening the slow movement with a double bass version of the slow "Frere Jacques" theme must have "sounded just awful" -- with the implication that Mahler must have intended that effect.
> ...


My first thought upon reading the above quoted remark was that perhaps Mahler lacked confidence in the abilities of the bassists. Could they have been "the weakest section" of that particular orchestra? Of course, the composer won't compromise his musical inner ear and "write down" for a weak player, will he? Or perhaps Mahler had heard one of the recordings of Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 and figured that if those guys could get a viable sound from a slow double bass introduction, his orchestra could, too. (Nah! That's probably not the case.) But the "Frere Jacques" movement does possess a certain satirical edge, and a purposeful "awful sound" might just have been intended. Maybe Mahler didn't know that Gorecki fellow, but he certainly knew Beethoven and what he had done with double basses.

By the way, the above mentioned Mahler movement has long been one of my top four or five favorite movements from the composer. Nowadays I even loathe hearing the old French tune played (or, even worse, _sung_) in the major key.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I love bass players - they are among the happiest and close bonded sections in an orchestra. They don't grumble, despite having to lug around those unwieldy things. And many conductors pay no attention to them, yet their parts are so critical. Playing contrabassoon I get to spend a lot of time down in the low register with them - and frequently have to play a bass part when no on in a particular group has a bass with the low-C extension. Beethoven wrote at least two bass parts that are exceptionally difficult: the 5th symphony and the finale of the 9th. The contra doubles the bass - they're practically unplayable. 

Regarding that Mahler part: several years ago during a rehearsal the conductor stopped after the bass solo, which was beautifully played. He said that Mahler wanted it to sound rough, weird, and vulgar - so please do not practice it at all anymore so we get a more grotesque sound at the concert! Needless to say, the bass player, fearing for his reputation and knowing that some audience members would complain about how poorly he played, polished it to perfection.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

SanAntone said:


> Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites, Performed on Double Bass
> 
> View attachment 143570
> 
> ...


I love these recordings of the Suites. I also think the Silk Road Ensemble and other various projects with Yo-Yo Ma are also really wonderful to. Edgar Meyer has a lot of his own compositions that show off the expressive power the bass is capable of:


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