How often do you hear the double bass in recordings?

[Dave2002]

The answer to the question posed will depend on the equipment you use to listen with, and also the environment.

I was struck recently with the impact of the double bass at the start of the Trout quintet in a live performance. Chances are that listening in cars or trains would completely mask the effect of this instrument. It seems to add a lot to a performance if one can actually hear the low notes.

[ahinton]

The answer to the question posed will depend on the equipment you use to listen with, and also the environment.

I was struck recently with the impact of the double bass at the start of the Trout quintet in a live performance. Chances are that listening in cars or trains would completely mask the effect of this instrument. It seems to add a lot to a performance if one can actually hear the low notes.

I presume you to be asking here about just the one double bass (I nearly wrote "single double bass"!) and you have a point. I do know of one particular first-rate recording of a chamber work in which being able to hear the double bass clearly at all times when it's being played is never at issue; for reasons that may become apparent, I won't name it, but someone else here might...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(I nearly wrote "single double bass"!)

Nearly as much fun as a double single malt.

I do know of one particular first-rate recording of a chamber work in which being able to hear the double bass clearly at all times when it's being played is never at issue; for resons that may become apparent, I won't name it, but someone else here might...

No idea what you're talking about.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh, alright, then -

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Nov02/Hinton.htm

... and, if Mr Canonici were ever to be involved in a recording of the Trout 5tet, there'd be no problem hearing the Double Bass line there, either!


EDIT: Oh! It seems that Musicweb no longer sell it/have it in stock (I hope that means they've sold all 200 copies they had in stock) - available from Amazon, still -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quintet-Leonard-Barcham-Stevens-Andrade-Stirling/dp/B00006LEO1/

[Pulcinella]

The answer to the question posed will depend on the equipment you use to listen with, and also the environment.

Or the piece, Dave.

Quite often in these, one would hope!

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Hyperion/CDA67179

[gurnemanz]

We went to Haitink's Mahler First at the Barbican a couple of weeks ago and were reminded of the famous double bass Frère Jacques solo.

[ahinton]

Nearly as much fun as a double single malt.

Depends on the particular malt, methinks; "nearly" in some cases but perhaps "nowhere near" in others!...

No idea what you're talking about.

I wonder if I do meself sometimes!...

[Serial_Apologist]

Oh, alright, then -

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Nov02/Hinton.htm

... and, if Mr Canonici were ever to be involved in a recording of the Trout 5tet, there'd be no problem hearing the Double Bass line there, either!


EDIT: Oh! It seems that Musicweb no longer sell it/have it in stock (I hope that means they've sold all 200 copies they had in stock) - available from Amazon, still -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quintet-Leon...dp/B00006LEO1/

Very OT, but thanks for reproducing these details about Alister, ferney. From them one at last learns that he is not as happens a composer only of works of gigantic proportions - this only really applying to the Quintet - thereby rendering it all the more mystifying that his music has not, afaik, yet been broadcast on Radio 3.

[ahinton]

Oh, alright, then -

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Nov02/Hinton.htm

... and, if Mr Canonici were ever to be involved in a recording of the Trout 5tet, there'd be no problem hearing the Double Bass line there, either!

Indeed! Sadly, as you know (I think), he's not involved in playing much at all these days, which is not merely a pity but a tragedy; I'm so delighted that his splendid playing was captured so well in that recording.

EDIT: Oh! It seems that Musicweb no longer sell it/have it in stock (I hope that means they've sold all 200 copies they had in stock) - available from Amazon, still -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quintet-Leon...dp/B00006LEO1/

I didn't know that they were actually offering it so I've no idea but, yes, it's still available through Amazon and other channels; the record label's UK distributor, for example, is Priory, so any record shop could get it from there (and they're usually pretty reliable, in my experience).

[ahinton]

Very OT, but thanks for reproducing these details about Alister, ferney. From them one at last learns that he is not as happens a composer only of works of gigantic proportions - this only really applying to the Quintet - thereby rendering it all the more mystifying that his music has not, afaik, yet been broadcast on Radio 3.

The quintet's been broadcast as has piano sonata no. 3, though the former was aired in 2005 and the latter as far back as around 1980, I think...

[Serial_Apologist]

The quintet's been broadcast as has piano sonata no. 3, though the former was aired in 2005 and the latter as far back as around 1980, I think...

Ah then I stand corrected, thanks Alister. Hardly to be celebrated though.

[ahinton]

Ah then I stand corrected, thanks Alister. Hardly to be celebrated though.

It's not brilliant, no! - although the fact that R3 was prepeared to devote an entire evening to the quintet came as no small surprise to me at the time (it's spread over 3 CDs and I think that its overall duration's a whisker under 170 minutes, so when I heard about the forthcoming broadcast I was rather reminded of the old story of the aged Rossini being recognised while strolling down a Paris boulevard and being told "I hear that your William Tell is about to be revived!" and his replying "what? ALL of it?"...)...

I'm Alistair, by the way!

[jayne lee wilson]

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_D5ETaUkiyMC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=consolations+for+double+bass&source=bl&ots=xZOEhNjnSs&sig=BIp-j5fzTwyX7jTqO4mCtN1_Ogk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QbSSVbH2KobnyQPyno_wAQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=consolations%20for%20double%20bass&f=false

[richardfinegold]

I have always been able to hear the double bass in the trout. The recording that I usually listen to is a "Music From Marlboro that features Rudy Serkin, Jaime Laredo, and others.

[Petrushka]

We went to Haitink's Mahler First at the Barbican a couple of weeks ago and were reminded of the famous double bass Frère Jacques solo.

I was there too!

The audibility of the double bass solo in the third movement of Mahler 1 varies wildly on recordings, from 'can hardly hear it' to 'sounds like the whole section playing'.

Do love to hear the rich sonority that a good double bass section can bring to Beethoven 5 third movement, for instance, as well as the opening of the second movement of Mahler 5 and that passage in Strauss' Alpensinfonie as the climbers set off.