Description

The Heritage Series features a wealth of exciting and innovative music from the 19th-century by some of the leading bassist-composers of the day. Each book …includes three or four works for the intermediate-advanced bassist bringing music by these important figures in double bass history back to life in the 21st-century. Book 3 includes four charming and inventive salon pieces from Russia, Czech Republic and Great Britain, composed during the latter years of the 19th- century, and is available with piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tuning. Serge Koussevitsky (1874-1951) – Andante Op.1, No.1
Koussevitsky is one of the ‘Big Three’ names in double bass history,
alongside Dragonetti and Bottesini, and his four salon pieces and Concerto are still at the heart of the solo register today. Andante is the least well known of the four pieces but is a charming and elegant miniature, in ternary form, which harks back to a different age. The themes are stylish and tasteful, played entirely in the solo register of the double bass, with an understated and supportive piano accompaniment which adds to the success of the piece. Gustav Láska (1847-1928) – Wiegenlied (Lullaby) Op.28, No.5
Wiegenlied (Lullaby) is a short and lyrical salon work and is the final work of Op.28, a suite of five pieces for violoncello or double bass and piano. First published in Leipzig in 1892, it was recorded by Serge Koussevitsky in 1929 but not released until 1949. Almost exclusively in treble clef and in the solo register of the double bass, Wiegenlied demonstrates the beautifully sonorous and cantabile qualities of the instrument. Josef Emanuel Storch (1841-1877) – Solostück (Solo Piece)
Solostück is from a set of 3 Pieces for double bass and piano published by B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz (Germany). Typical of the salon music of the day, it emphasises the lyrical and cantabile qualities of the double bass across its middle register, with a more impassioned and dramatic middle section, ending with a simple and evocative reimagining of the original theme but now played in harmonics. Solostück has been out of print for many years. A.C. White (1830-1902) – In tiefen Keller (Down in the Deep Cellar)
In tiefen keller is based on a popular German drinking song of the day, attributed to Ludwig Fischer (1745-1825),who was first bass at the Berlin Opera. The song was composed to suit a voice of exceptional register, the intervals being somewhat remarkable even in those days. The first edition of A.C. White’s piece was dedicated to Giovanni Bottesini, which dates it to the 1880s and it was originally written for a three-string double bass, with the lowest note of G, a tuning which White favoured for many years. The theme is followed by five variations ending with a fast and lively coda, utilising the entire solo range of the double bass.