Click below for a sample track from the new CD!

01-Korngold-Garden-Scene.mp3

I am really happy to announce the September 22nd release of my newest and  BEST! recording to date from the Analekta record company of Montreal, “Garden Scene”.

This recital program is the one I prepared for the 2007 International Society of Bassists Convention in Oklahoma City. After that very successful recital I was very honoured and flattered to be invited to play all over the world! I took the same program to Copenhagen, Vienna, Beijing as well as right here at the International Chamber Music Festival in Ottawa.

For the actual recording of “Garden Scene”, I had the very good fortune to work with my life long colleague and friend Roberto Occhipinti who acted as the producer and editor. Roberto is probably best known for his work in jazz although he did start out as a classical player and in fact was formerly the Principal Bassist of the Canadian Opera Company. He has played and recorded extensively with Cuban expatriate jazz pianist Hilario Durán and Jane Bunnett, he has his own R&B band, “Soul Stew”, and has toured with many others like the “Gorillaz”; in more recent years he has been the producer for classical artists such as the True North Brass, Quartetto Gelatto, the Gryphon Trio, the St. Lawrence Quartet and Via Salzburg. His many awards include National Jazz Awards, Junos, as well as a Socan award he received for his soundtrack for the cartoon series, “George Shrinks”.

As the recording process unfolded, Roberto showed me though was how truly fantastic his ears are! He obviously knows how to record a bass (his answer; 10 microphones) and many who have heard “Garden Scene” have commented that it is probably the best recorded bass sound they have heard. I like to point out that despite my many attempts at helping him edit the cd, he ignored me completely and did it by himself, and by ear alone, that is to say, with no music scores!

I would encourage those interested to check out Roberto’s website, http://www.robertoocchipinti.com to see and hear his many excellent recordings and compositions.

I am also quite pleased about the repertoire on this cd; My transcriptions of the Korngold “Garden Scene” as well as the complete J.C. Bach “Concerto in G minor” (originally c minor for viola) are included as well as the world premiere recording of the very important “Solo Sonata” by Mieczyslaw Weinberg whose close friend and mentor was Shostakovich. I feel this is a very important original work for bass that should be a staple of our 20th century repertoire.

My longtime accompanist, Andrew Burashko and I round out the program with the “Four Pieces” by Gliere which I think sound really great and my old favourite the Bottesini “Elegy”. After all this time it was wonderful to re-record that work and I find our performance to be so much better than our original Naxos recording in every way.

The largest classical record company in Canada “Analekta” purchased our recording and took over all the production concerns and distribution which I couldn’t be happier about.

The recording is available from itunes, Amazon and others, or else directly from Analekta itself (Click links below).  It is not available until after September 22nd release though!

]]> http://joelquarrington.com/garden-scene-on-analekta.html/feed 0 http://joelquarrington.com/bottesini-music-for-double-bass-and-piano-vol-2.html#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://joelquarrington.com/bottesini-music-for-double-bass-and-piano-vol-2.html#comments Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:31:11 +0000 joel http://joelquarrington.com/newWPsite/?p=20

Bottesini, Vol 2

Giovanni Bottesini enjoyed a globe-trotting career as “the Paganini of the double bass”. He was also a successful conductor and a composer, although only the music he wrote for his own instrument has outlived him. Many of the works on this recording emphasize the essential bel canto quality of Bottesini’s inspiration, most explicitly in the dazzling Bellini Fantasia, but also in the duets with clarinet and soprano which demand virtuosity of both feeling and technique. The Concerto No. 2 is a fully mature work, from the somewhat laconic first movement, through the simply singing second, to the third, driven by a rhythmic figure typical of the polonaise and the Cuban bolero.

You can buy the album here.

Virtuoso Reality

From the CD liner notes by Rick Phillips, project producer:

Joel Quarrington — the non-conformist, the rebel, the rabble-rouser? Hardly the adjectives we would use to describe a telented classical musician, let alone a Double bass player. But Joel Quarrington is all of these, and more.

First of all he plays with the German bow, not the French. There are two types of bowing techniques for the Double bass, and there is a lot of controversy and argument about their relative merits. The French bow is held much like the violin or cello bow, with the hand over the end. The German bow is believed to have evolved out of ancient Viol playing. It has a different, more broad end to it, and the hand is turned 90 degrees so that the end of the bow is in the palm of the hand, rather than underneath it. Although Joel originally learned the instrument using the French bow, since 1983 has employed the German bow, preferring the lesser amount of pressure needed, and the richer variety of colours he feels are available. But in his position as Principal Double bass with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Joel is the only one of the eight bass players in the orchestra who employs the German technique. Although it’s not rare to have a mixture of French and German techniques in bass sections, more often than not, there is uniformity of bowing — one or the other.

But the bow is not the only way Joel stands out. He also tunes his Double bass differently. It’s a technique he developed himself in the 1980s, and which he uses exclusively now. The standard tuning of the four Double bass strings is E A D G, with the same intervals of fourths between strings as those of the violin, but of course lower in pitch. A mechanical device controlled by levers can extend the range of the low E string down to a C. But never being completely satisfied with this, Joel instead began tuning his instrument starting with low C, and then working up in fifths to C G D A, the same pitches as on the cello, but an octave lower. The extended range down to low C, without having to use the mechanical device, and at the other end, up a tone to A instead of G. As well as the extended range, he also finds this tuning gives the bass a more open, round tone, and improves its tuning with the other instruments of the orchestra.

Double bass players often own more than one instrument. For example, some may find one bass better suited to orchestral playing, while another instrument, with a smaller sound, may fit into chamber music better. But Joel Quarrington uses one instrument all the time, whether he is soloist, chamber musician or orchestral player. It was made in Italy in 1630 by the noted Brescian master Giovanni Paolo Maggini. The instrument has had a fascinating life. It has been played in both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner, as well as the NBC Symphony Orchestra with Arturo Toscanini. It now enjoys life with Joel as Principal Double bass with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

The repertoire for the Double bass is limited. Consequently, Double bass players throughout musical history have often had an enteprenural leaning. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. Many took to composing works for the instruments themselves, others had existing music arranged for it, or commissioned new works from composers of the day. On this recording with Joel Quarrington are selections from all three categories, showing the versatility and adaptability of the instrument, as well as Joel’s virtuosity, expressiveness and dedication.

Giovanni Bottesini was a talented 19th-century composer, conductor and Double bass player, sometimes known as “The Paganini of the Double bass.” Among his operas are such titles as Cristoforo Colombo and Ali Baba. As well as numerous pieces for the bass, he is well remembered as the conductor at the 1871 premiere of the opera Aïda, in Cario, written by his friend, Giuseppe Verdi.

Toronto composer Milton Barnes is well known in Canada for his unpretentious, captivating music. The Papageno Variations for bass and string orchestra were written for Joel Quarrington in 1988. That are based on the birdcatcher Papageno’s Act 1 introductory aria from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute – “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja”. The light-hearted, fun-loving character of the original aria is maintained throughout, in a variety of musical styles.

Michael Conway Baker is a very busy Vancouver-based composer. As well as many concert and recital works, he is also a talented composer of file and ballet scores, including soundtracks to the films The Grey Fox, John And The Missus, and the ballet Washington Square. Contours was composed in 1973 for another Double bass virtuoso and pioneer — the American-born Gary Karr.

Henry Eccles is just one of a family of Engilsh musicians (sometimes known as Eagles) from the generation that followed Henry Purcell. Henry’s older brother John, was a talented composer of incidental music for the theatre. Another brother, Thomas, was an excellent violinist, reduced by a drinking problem to scraping out a living playing in taverns and inns. It is believed that Henry, the composer of the Sonata included here, eventually became a musician in France in the service of Louis XIV.

With the Sonota by Giovanni Battista Borghi, the repertoire on this recording is reduced to just two players. Very little is known about Borghi. Around 1770, he was Maestro di Capella of a church in Loretto, Italy. The following year, his first opera was performed in Venice. At some point, near the end of the 18th-century, he made a journey to Russia, returning to Italy, and dying around 1800. He was known mainly for his 25 operas, the most popular being Semiramide, based on the same story as the later opera by Rossini. But he also composed many instrument works. This Sonata comes from the library of works for Double bass collected by Isaia Billé.

Pablo de Sarasate was one of the great violin virtuosos of the 19th-century. If Nicolo Paganini ruled the first half of the century, Sarasate was dominant in the second half. His best known, and most often recorded work is Zigeunerweisen, or “Gypsy Airs”, heard here in an arrangement for Double bass and Piano.

Franco Mannino is a pianist, conductor, and composer now in his seventies. He is a prolific composer, writing in many genres, from a set of 24 Preludes for Piano in all the major and minor keys, to operas. The Sonatina Tropical, included here, also appears in an arrangement for cello choir. From 1982 to 1986, Franco Mannino was the Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada. The four movements of the Sonatina Tropical are suited to the Tropics — Mambo, Beguine, Bossa Nova and Rumba. These dance titles are perhaps a little more difficult to associate with the Double bass, but such is the character and talent of Joel Quarrington.

You can listen to tracks and purchase the CD here.

Bottesini, Vol. 1

From the CD liner notes by Jeffrey L. Stokes, Dean of Music at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada:

It was a curious twist of fate that produced the nineteenth century’s reigning double bass virtuoso. when a boy of fourteen, Bottesini had already greatly developed his musical talents as a choirboy, a violinist, and a timpani player. His father sought a place for him in the Milan Conservatory, but only two were available; for bassoon, and double bass. Double bass it was then. He prepared a successful audition in a matter of weeks, and only four years later, a surprizingly short time by the standards of the day, still a teenager, he left with a prize of 300 francs for solo playing. This money financed the acquisition of an instrument of Carlo Testore, and a globetrotting career as “the Paganini of the Double Bass” was launched.

The anecdote should be read not just as a curious chapter in the biography of a prodigy, but also as early evidence of the extraordinary versatility that Bottesini exhibited for the rest of his life. He toured throughout Europe, Latin America, and the United States, impressing audiences with his musicality as much as he astounded them with technical mastery of a “cumbrous” instrument. An English writer who heard his London début performance in 1849 recalled that “it was not only marvellous as a tour de fource, but the consummate skill of this great artist enabled his to produce a result delightful even for the most fastidous musician to listen to”.

That innate musicality naturally opened toward two complementary paths, as a conductor and as a composer. It was of course expected that the instrumental virtuosi would compose works to show off their personal prowess. For example, Dragonetti, the greatest bass-player of the preceding generation, left a great number of popular dazzlers; a genius compser-performer like Liszt could craft virtuoso pieces that trascend technical display, and indeed could transcend his own instrument. Bottesini is probably closer to the Liszt example. He wrote about a dozen operas: from Cristoforo Colombo while in Paris in 1870, to La Regina di Nepal for Turin in 1880. He also composed eleven string quartets (a genre scarcely noticed in nineteenth century Italy), songs, some sacred music, and a few orchestral works. However, only his music for double bass, and only some of that, outlived him.

As a conductor and music director, Bottesini at one time or another held major posts at theatres in London, Paris, Palermo, Madrid, and Barcellona. Music history, however, notices most that he conducted the first performance of Aida in Cario, to commemorate the opening of the opera-house. Verdi had been a close friend since they met in Venice twenty years before, and nearly twenty years after Aida, he nominated Bottesini as Director of the Parma Conservatory, his last post, which he assumed only a few months befor his death in 1889.

Italian opera in the sytle of Donizetti and the younger Verdi is obviously the fundamental language of Bottesini’s instrumental works, and that means an exaltation of melody above all else. The elaborate chromatic harmony and motivic manipulation of a Wagner, the subtle and abstract formal structures of Brahams, are not to be found. Rather, Bottesini’s music insists that the double bass must always sing, sometimes in a declamatory mode, but mostly in chains of regular, lyrical phrases, only loosely related motivically, often dissolving into a mini-cadenza to close a section, whereupon a fresh cycle commences. The first challenge for a performer is to offer “purity of tone and intonation, perfect taste in phrasing”, to borrow words used to describe the composer’s own playing. The particular charm and power of this music then, is not so much in the composition itself, nor in the demands it undoubtedly makes of the soloist, but rather in the scope it provides for the soloist to communicate with, and to move the listener. It is the music more for the heart than for analytical minds, or for just the fingers.

A rapid traverse of the instrument’s whole range is Bottesini’s most common virtuoso gesture; and that range is greatly extended on the high side by an exploitation of harmonics (flute-like sounds produced by just touching the string at certain points, rather than pressing it to the fingerboard). Double stops and busy passage work, staple tricks of Dragonetti’s generation, are more the exception than the rule here.

These traits are especially evident in the works recorded on this disc. Each of the five slow pieces, the three Elegias, the Melodia and the Rêverie, which in spite of the various titles all occupy the same emotional space, opens with a short introduction, moves to the main section for the soloist, which yields to a contrasting middle section. Some sort of recollection of the main section follows, often with the piano taking the melody while the bass sings a new countermelody to it; and then a coda provides a wistful leave-taking of the work. Although both the Melodia and the Rêverie were originally written for cello solo, there is no musical or technical impediment to a transcription for bass, nor any reason to suppose that Bottesini would disapprove. Elegia No. 3 is variously titled Romanza patetica, Mélodie, and Elegia par Ernst.

The other pieces have a more bravura character, and more clearly segmented designs. The Capriccio shows a vague sonata-form plan in the fast section: exposition of two theme groups, in the tonic and dominant keys respectively; a piano interlude, and a third theme in a new key again – in the place of a standard “development”; a recapitulation of the exposition in the tonic key; and a coda. The pieces with dance titles are, after their dramatic introductions, neatly organized around nearly literal recurrences of the main tune.

The Allegretto Capriccio is a dance piece too, a waltz. In Rudolf Malaric’s edition, there is an interesting subtitle “a la Chopin”, which most probably is the editor’s suggestion of a certain interesting resonance. Perhaps he had in mind a sort of conflation of the piano master’s Op. 34, No. 1, and Op. 64, No. 2. Far less speculative is the source of the Allegro di Concerto “alla Mendelssohn”. Bottesini really did not need to provide a clue in the title; at almost every measure the listener will be amused to recognize a creative paraphrase of that most famous violin concerto.

You can listen to tracks and purchase the CD here. ]]> http://joelquarrington.com/bottesini-vol-1.html/feed 0