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Founder:
Len Mullenger Editor
in Chief:John Quinn
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Search MusicWeb Here |
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Founder:
Len Mullenger Editor
in Chief:John Quinn
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RECORDING OF THE MONTH
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Tarantella – Music for double-bass and piano
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| CD available for post-free online mail-order or you may download individual tracks. For some labels you can download the entire CD with a single click and make HUGE savings. The price you see is the price you pay! The full booklet notes are available on-line. | 
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NOTE • Click on the button and you can buy the disc or read the booklet details • You can also access each track which you may then sample or down load. • Further Information. |
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Be honest; two CDs of nothing but double bass and piano doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Well I tell you what; buy these discs IMMEDIATELY, and that’s an order! Otherwise you will be missing a unique and wonderful musical experience. Duncan McTier is simply one of the finest instrumentalists around anywhere at the moment; I didn’t just enjoy these discs, I loved every minute of them. Bass players are a curious breed; I remember once surveying the bass section of the BBC Philharmonic (then the NSO) and noticing their socks, all vying to outdo one another with bright, disgusting colours, every player in the section a raving extrovert despite the reticent nature of his huge instrument. (In that particular bass department were two young men who were about to go off and form a little vocal ensemble which turned into something called the Kings Singers). The very act of wresting music out of the instrument’s vast unwieldy bulk seems to do something to the psyche of its exponents. Or maybe you have to be that way in the first place to succeed on the bass. (For further ‘enlightenment’ on this topic see Anthony Kemp’s deeply silly book ‘The Musical Temperament’!) The wrong thing to do when bringing forth the bass as a soloist is to try to make it sound like a ’cello. McTier never falls into that trap, his tone always having a deliciously husky quality to it, that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for a ’cello, and both of these marvellous recordings allow us to be constantly aware of the sheer size of the instrument. I won’t go on any more about the playing, for fear of gushing; but I ought to add that, in Kathron Sturrock, McTier has a perfectly matching partner. In many ways, her contribution is a model of all that an accompanist must aim for. When necessary, she can melt into the background completely to allow the bass centre stage. But when she has the musical spotlight, she plays in a compelling and entirely soloistic way. Inevitably, a lot of the material consists of arrangements, and a great deal is light, insubstantial music. But it’s all worth hearing, and most of it very fine of its kind. And not once did I have that uncomfortable feeling that the bass was being pressed into performing music that didn’t suit it. Take one example; who on earth would have thought of transcribing Fauré’s glorious Après un rêve for bass (‘Tarantella’ track 4)? Sounds like a mad idea, but in the hands of McTier it works like a dream (forgive me). The same applies, to a slightly lesser degree perhaps, to the lovely Mendelssohn Song Without Words on ‘Capriccio’, track 4, the Ravel Habañera on ‘Tarantella’, track 10, or Saint-Saëns’ ‘Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix’ from Samson et Dalila. Throughout all these, McTier simply allows us to bathe in the beauty of his tone, the musical suppleness of his and Sturrock’s phrasing, and the almost unbelievable perfection of his intonation. How rare to encounter playing that is so immaculate and yet so full of passion and intensity. There are one or two more extended works, such as the highly entertaining Beethoven Variations, or Bottesini’s Capriccio et Barvura. Don’t dismiss Bottesini as just a bass virtuoso who managed to write a bit – he really knew how to compose, and his writing for the bass is, of course, quite wonderful. I particularly love the places, such as ‘Tarantella’ track 1, Bottesini’s Fantasie on ‘La Sonnambula’ , at 3:47, where McTier goes into harmonics, and the music acquires an unearthly, glassy quality. This happens quite often throughout the discs, and it’s as if the huge instrument is singing falsetto! My favourite track of all? ‘Capriccio’ track 2, Fauré’s famous Elegy. Never have I heard it sound better. McTier begins in a magnificent full-throated outpouring, then, for the repeat of the tragic melody, fines the tone down almost to a whisper – pure magic. But the discs are full of insightful, imaginative playing of this kind. Both recordings are pretty well perfect in their engineering, though I marginally preferred the sound on ‘Tarantella’, recorded at the University of Surrey. To go back to the haranguing of my opening paragraph, if you’re not sure about the bass as a soloist, you must listen to this. If you do love the bass – well then, you probably already have done!
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Une
Larme pour Basse Capriccio Variations on 'Ein Madchen oder Weibchen' Aria
'Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix' Requiebros Get a free QuickTime download here |
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Duncan McTier, double bass,
Kathron Sturrock, piano