Récit et Allegro was Charles Tournemire’s only work for double bass, composed for the ‘Concours du Conservatoire National de Musique’ in 1935 and is dedicated to Édouard Nanny (1875-1942), the important and influential professor of double bass at the Paris Conservatoire for over 20 years.
Aimed at the advanced bassist and in one extended movement, the piece is confident and direct combining a solo part which features musical and technical challenges, alongside an accompaniment which is colourful and inventive but also providing a strong support. The entire solo register of the double bass is explored and Tournemire produced a piece which is both serious in content and intent, completely understanding the possibilities and challenges of the solo double bass.
Arco and pizzicato are used, also a few double stops and harmonics, which are to be expected from a competition piece, and there is a freedom and rhapsodic nature to the piece which would certainly test the musicianship of the soloist. Here is a work where both instruments are important and equal, each voice has something different to contribute with the contrasting music of the two instruments creating an impressive work which has been unjustly neglected.
The edition includes piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tunings.