How often do you hear the double bass in recordings?

[EdgeleyRob]

Double Bass being put through it's paces here.
You may think 'blimey,over 20 minutes of solo DB,no thanks'but you may just find,like me,that you don't want it to end.

I read somewhere that it's a sort of spiritual descendant of Bach's Cello Suites.

[richardfinegold]

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.

Some Conductors change the scoring of Mahler 1/III so that the entire double bass section is playing.

[ahinton]

Double Bass being put through it's paces here.
You may think 'blimey,over 20 minutes of solo DB,no thanks'but you may just find,like me,that you don't want it to end.

I read somewhere that it's a sort of spiritual descendant of Bach's Cello Suites.

Yes, let's hear it for the wonderful and indispensible double bass! - and yet another example of Weinberg coming to the fore as he should have done years ago...

[Roehre]

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.

Did Haitink it with a solo double bass again?
Depending on the acoustics he sometimes uses two or three.

[MickyD]

Thanks for this thread...brought back happy memories of my dear old mate John Steer, who was double bassist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and also appeared with the AAM in their larger Beethoven performances. A lovely, funny man with so many anecdotes.

[Hornspieler]

I tend to hear the double basses, sadly, when the section sounds out of tune (sharp, usually) with the rest of the orchestra.

I you want to hear exceptionaly good pizzicato bass, listen to the closing bars (coda?)of the Eroica 1st movement in HvK's 1970s BPO recording.

Does anyone remember J Edward Merrit or James W Merrit from those "Music in Miniature" broadcasts of the 1950s?

HS

[gurnemanz]

Did Haitink it with a solo double bass again?
Depending on the acoustics he sometimes uses two or three.

Solo - and very effective.

[Dave2002]

Thanks for this thread...brought back happy memories of my dear old mate John Steer, who was double bassist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and also appeared with the AAM in their larger Beethoven performances. A lovely, funny man with so many anecdotes.

In the 1960s the RLPO had a superb bass player. I distinctly remember him swinging around with his instrument in Stravinsky's Pulcinella. I can't remember his name, nor the name of the tuba player who had also previously featured in some well known jazz bands.

[Suffolkcoastal]

If you're a former Bass player like me, then you tend to pick out and hear the bass/basses far more easily. I rarely have a problem no matter what format, equipment or recording.

[Tony Halstead]

In the 1960s the RLPO had a superb bass player. I distinctly remember him swinging around with his instrument in Stravinsky's Pulcinella. I can't remember his name, nor the name of the tuba player who had also previously featured in some well known jazz bands.

I used to free-lance with the RLPO in the mid-1960s and I remember both of those larger-than-life characters, both of them brilliant players. The Tuba player was, I believe, CLIFFORD BEVAN who was once a member of the 'Temperance Seven'. The double bassist was, I think, Roy ( can't remember his surname).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for this thread...brought back happy memories of my dear old mate John Steer, who was double bassist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and also appeared with the AAM in their larger Beethoven performances. A lovely, funny man with so many anecdotes.

Ah - he was the soloist who Maxwell Davies had originally intended to play his Double Bass Concerto, but who suffered a terrible hand injury which made this impossible (although he was still able to play the orchestral repertoire). As a lovely gesture, PMD incorporated a short duet in the Finale of the Concerto for the solo and principal orchestral Bassist, so that Steer could still play a solo in the Concerto.

[BBMmk2]

Ofcourse I hear the double0bas. open your ears if you can't!

[MickyD]

Ah - he was the soloist who Maxwell Davies had originally intended to play his Double Bass Concerto, but who suffered a terrible hand injury which made this impossible (although he was still able to play the orchestral repertoire). As a lovely gesture, PMD incorporated a short duet in the Finale of the Concerto for the solo and principal orchestral Bassist, so that Steer could still play a solo in the Concerto.

That's right, fhg...John told me that, and what a warm welcome he got visiting PMD up at his home in Hoy.

[Dave2002]

Of course I hear the double bass. Open your ears if you can't!

There's hearing and hearing! Picking up the full grunt and resonance of the instrument, rather than just a dull not always very audible and sometimes muffled rendition. Closeness to the instrument also makes a difference, and one can perhaps even hear the way the bow strikes the strings.

My recent experiences have been of listening to live performances, which have mostly been oh so much better than recorded ones.

[ahinton]

There's hearing and hearing! Picking up the full grunt and resonance of the instrument, rather than just a dull not always very audible and sometimes muffled rendition. Closeness to the instrument also makes a difference, and one can perhaps even hear the way the bow strikes the strings.

My recent experiences have been of listening to live performances, which have mostly been oh so much better than recorded ones.

Whilst I take your point, the recorded one to which I alluded was made by someone whose prime intention was to make the whole (not just the double bass part) sound as close to a live performance experience as possible; one way in which this particularly succeeded with the double bass is in not rolling off extreme bass frequencies which sometimes provides for insufficiently distinct audibility of the instrument - there's one place in an extended (12'+) Aria for soprano and double bass alone, for example, in which the bassist's dive down to an open C on the instrument's lowest string almost conveys the impression of being able to feel the floor vibrating...