Opera excerpt breakdown just completed with John Grillo

Double bassist and classicalmusicnews.tv blogger John Grillo and I just wrapped up an opera excerpt breakdown for the Contrabass Conversations show. This is an extension of the orchestra excerpt breakdown that we began on episode 41 of the program. On this episode, we featured the following excerpts, with some commentary plus a recording of John performing the bass part:

Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Brahms Symphony No. 1
Brahms Symphony No. 2
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Mozart Symphony No. 35
Mozart Symphony No. 39
Mahler Symphony No. 2
Schubert Symphony No. 9
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Britten Young Person’s Guide
Verdi Otello

This new opera excerpt episode covers many selections from operas by Mozart, Strauss, Wagner, Britten, Beethoven, and other composers. This should prove to be a valuable contribution to the field of double bass pedagogy and an exciting new way to use the power of new media to enhance music education, learning, and sharing among the worldwide double bass community.

Check out all of John’s contributions to the podcast on his Contrabass Conversations page, and stay tuned for our interview with University of North Texas jazz bass professor Lynn Seaton this weekend!