Double Bass Blog Guest Post
Last year, when the International Society of Bassists was involved with the Year of Collaborative Music, I spent a lot of time scouring the web for more chamber music that involves the bass. I stumbled upon a lot more than I ever knew was out there, including Paul Nemith’s massive list of 3000+ chamber works with bass.
Another impressive site was that of Merton Music. They have been collecting and reprinting out-of-copyright (public domain) works for years, and have amassed quite a collection of chamber works with bass–most of which I’ve never heard (or heard of.) Now, thanks to IMSLP, these are all available online for free. Merton Music only charges a very small fee for printing, so particularly if you are in the UK and the shipping isn’t so much, this seems like a steal. I mentioned this in an information packet that was given out at a presentation on chamber music at the San Francisco ISB convention, and had the intention of digging into this trove of material myself, but have yet to make the dive.
So my question is . . . with so many bass players looking for fun music to play (whether or not it’s the greatest masterworks of all time)–is anyone checking these pieces out? I’d love to hear some reviews, and there’s no way I am going to single-handedly make it through this list on my own.
Check out the list of chamber works with bass here.
Then order some, or search for them on IMSLP and print them out.
Then read them with friends, and let the rest of us know what you think of the piece/s. If you’re really brave, post a recording on youtube–or even better–on the IMSLP page that they have created for non-commercial recordings.
I’ll be looking forward to hearing them!
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hi, I am interested in your page. I am a bassist from Mexico
I’ve played a good number of those pieces over the years, some of them many times. I do, occasionally, get round to putting a few notes up on my blog about the pieces that I play, but it’s not often I have the time… I do have a week each year when I get to really hammer through the repertoire – for example, my playlist from that week in 2011 contains, among others:
Nonets – Spohr, Farrenc, Martinu (needs to be done in a group where at least half of you know it / have played it before), Onslow (feels like film music)
Septets – Beethoven, Berwald, Strauss (Metamorphosen arrangement / reduction – a much better, more engaging and less frustrating play than the 23-part version, but it needs to be well controlled)
Piano Sextets – Glinka & Sterndale Bennett (top tip: avoid ’em both unless your pianist is very very very good)
Quintets – Dvorak (some hairy moments for all). There’s also a Beethoven/Khym quintet (this feels like a violin/cello concerto, with the rest of the group filling in the blanks).
My full playlist from that one week in 2011 is here: http://thelonedoublebass.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/band-camp-2011-playlist/