Recital-Music

Book 1 of Recital Music's ongoing Heritage Series featuring long-forgotten music primarily by bassist-composers of the late 19th and early 20th-century. Lyrical and accessible music mainly in the orchestral register providing useful and interesting recital repertoire in the salon style. Ideal as early recital repertoire. Evocative music with effective musical and technical challenges for the intermediate bassist. Contents include Laska - A la Hongroise / Noskowski - Elegy-Polonaise / Manoly - Albumblatt / Madenski - Marzenie/Souvenir / Simandl - Etude / Laska - Arietta. [Laska - A la Hongroise - Grade 6 Trinity-Guildhall 2010 onwards/ Noskowski - Elegy-Polonaise Grade 7 Trinity-Guildhall 2010 onwards]. 'This is a collection of five short pieces for recital programmes drawing on the repertoire of central European bassist-composers mainly at the turn of the 20th-century. So we have Gustav Laska's Arietta and A La Hongroise Ludwig Manoly's Albumblatt Eduard Madenski's Marzenie and Simandl's Etude as well as Zygmunt Noskowski's Elegy-Poloniase. The Simandl work which though brief deserves a better title appeared in that pedagogue's Method volume 2 but will hopefully reach a wider audience in this edition. It's a pleasure to see a proliferation of this kind of chamber recital repertoire for the bass; we can't have too much of it.' (ESTA - News & Views)

A Tear-A beautiful and poignant lament which is ideally suited to the double bass. Originally for cello this new edition returns to the cello version [Theme & Variations] adding an extended (but optional) piano introduction and demonstrates the dark and soulful colours of the solo double bass. Long flowing phrases allow the intermediate bassist to demonstrate both musical and technical accomplishment in an accessible range of the instrument. The soulful and wistful melody transcribes beautifully for double bass allowing the instrument to display its bel canto and lyrical capabilities. A three bar section towards the end of the piece is playable as written or anocatve higher giving bassists the opportunity to play high harmonics within a beautiful and evocative melody. This is an ideal study or recital work with its supportive and pulsing accompaniment and has been one of Recital Music's bestsellers since it was published. Une Larme is also available for solo double bass and string orchestra accompaniment - please contact the publishers for further details. Grade 7 - Trinity-Guildhall / ABRSM / LCM / MTB Exams (www.mtbexams.com) 

Arranger : David Heyes The Transcriptions Series series Recital Music publish a wealth of original works for double bass alongside a popular, accessible and growing range of transcriptions for bassists of all ages and abilities. Most transcriptions published by Recital Music are by David Heyes, who has a successful and proven track record when arranging for double bass. Czardas for violin and piano is Monti's only famous work, believed to have been composed in the early years of the 20th-century, and has been composed for almost every instrument, every instrumental combination, and performed by every gipsy orchestra or ensemble. The slow rhapsodic introduction quickly leads into the main theme which is full of rhythmic fire and gipsy passion. A slow section, primarily in double stops, is then repeated in high harmonics before a brief return of the fast viruosic music which leads into a reprise of the Czardas material, but now in the tonic major. A fast and energetic finale brings the piece to a rousing and successful conclusion. This exciting new arrangement by David Heyes offers musical and technical challenges in equal measure and the edition includes accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tunings. An arrangement for double bass quartet is in preparation. Italian composer, conductor and violinist, Vittorio Monti was born in Naples on 6 January 1868 and died on 20 June 1922. He studied at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella with F. Pinto (violin) and Paolo Serrao (composition) and moved to Paris in 1886 where he studied violin with Camillo Sivori, Paganini's most famous pupil. For many years Monti was a member of the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris, also conducting the orchestra on occasions, and composed ballets, operettas and instrumental music during his years in the French capital.

Double Trouble was composed in 2006 as part of Recital Music's One Minute Wonders project - for pieces lasting exactly one minute. It was premiered by Sophie Heyes (double bass) accompanied by the composer on 18 October of that year. Double Trouble is adapted from a song from the musical of Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters and the rhythm of the famous verse 'Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble' can clearly be heard. Aimed at the intermediate bassist this is lively and rhythmic music which is successful in performance.

Atmospheric and musically rewarding Aeolian Air would be ideal for the intermediate bassist who is just venturing into low thumb position. Suitable for legato and cantabile playing with a few technical challenges thrown in for good measure this offers much to the intermediate bassist. Written in the Aeolian mode - the white keys on the piano - this is a quality work from one of the leading composers writing for the double bass today. Tony Osborne has the rare ability to write interesting effective and idiomatic music for any level of bassist and this is successful as both a teaching piece and in recital.

Bass-Time Beginners is a set of six short and easy pieces for the progressing beginner bassist. They offer simple musical and technical challenges using a limited number of keys and positions to encourage confidence in the early years of study also introducing simple harmonics and pizzicato effects to create a greater awareness of the possibilities of the double bass.The piano accompaniments are independent and supportive written for the double bass teacher with some pianistic skills creating music which is useful for both educational and concert use.Written in a popular and accessible style Bass-Time Beginners isaimed at about Grade 2-4 level and the six pieces were composed in 2010 for Recital Music's BassLines Project to create new repertoire for beginners.

A Spotless Rose is dedicated to Sarah Poole and was written for a charity concert on Sunday 7 December 2014. The simple arpeggio accompaniment creates an atmospheric web above which the female choir in three parts can weave their melodic lines and is set to a most evocative and beautiful text. The accompaniment can be played by piano or harp and the carol is a simple and understated setting which the composer hopes will appeal to choirs and audiences alike.A Spotless Rose is also available for solo voice and piano. David Heyes studied double bass with Laurence Gray and Bronwen Naish and later at the Royal College of Music in London. Hecompleted his post-graduate studies in Prague with Frantisek Posta (Principal Double Bass Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). He has given recitals and masterclasses in 13 countries over the past few years and has been a juror at a number of international competitions twice as chairman.David has been Specialist Double Bass Tutor at Wells Cathedral School for 17 years and received a prestigious award from the David Walter Charitable Trust of New York for his pioneering activities as a soloist teacher publisher and commissioner of new music for double bass. He works with composers throughout the world and is particularly interested to expand the double bass repertoire by commissioning new works and by rediscovering forgotten ones. Over the past 30 years he has commissioned more than 500 works from beginner to virtuoso and from one to twenty basses.David has transcribed more than 200 works for double bass many published by Recital Music and in recent year has also composed a number of original works for double bass which have been performed in Britain America and Czech Republic. David is self-taught as a composer and his music has been described as lyrical and accessible but certainly of the 21st-century. In recent years he has had premieres and performances in Britain America Spain and the Czech Republic was a Featured

SOLO TUNING See RM722 for Orchestral Tuning The 'Dragonetti Concerto' was first published in 1925 by Alphonse Leduc in Paris as No.23 of Edouard Nanny's 'Les Classiques de la Contrebasse'. For many years no one questioned its authenticity, but as more research into Dragonetti's original works for double bass was made, concerns began to arise. Many of Dragonetti manuscripts survive in the British Library, thanks to Vincent Novello who donated them in 1849, three years after Dragonetti's death and on Novello's retirement to Italy, but there is no original manuscript for this work. As bassists began to edit and perform a wide range of Dragonetti's works it became clear that this concerto bore little resemblance to any of his other pieces. The work does, however, have many similarities to Nanny's Concerto for double bass, also to his other solo works and even studies from his Method. Eventually most people came to the conclusion that this work is not an original work by the great Venetian bassist but is by Edouard Nanny, and in the style of the late 18th-century. Having said that, this is still a charming and evocative work which has much player and audience appeal and is very easy on the ears. Many of the challenges for the soloist are technical and, almost a century after its first publication, it is still as popular as ever. Published in 1925, the first movement was performed at London's Wigmore Hall on 15 April the following year by Victor Watson (double bass) and Sidney Crooke (piano), and was described a 'Contrabass Concerto by Dragonetti-Nanny. ERRATA: Piano part: page 8 (1st movement), bar 87 - final chord of bar in right hand should be D/E/G# - a dominant 7th chord in A major Edouard Nanny was an important French double bassist and teacher, also composing and transcribing many works for double bass. He was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 24 March 1872 and he studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Professor Verrimst, also teaching there from 1920-1940. He performed often as a soloist, also working as an orchestral bassist with many orchestras such as the Paris Symphony Orchestra, Concerts Lamoureux and the Orchestra de l'Opera Comique, and in 1901 he founded the Henry Casadeus Society of Old Instruments, chaired by Camille Saint-Saens, and intended to revive the works from the past centuries. Nanny's Method for double bass is still in print, over 90 years since its first publication and both volumes contain a wealth of excellent technical studies and exercises which are as relevant today as they were in the 1920s. His other volumes of studies are mostly out of print and Recital Music plan to reprint some of his orginal works for double bass, transcriptions and educational music to keep alive the name of Edouard Nanny into the 21st-century. Edouard Nanny died in Paris in 1942.

A lively three-movement suite aimed at the young bassist and composed in 2003 for Eloise Riddell. Work to Do! has a strong rhythmic drive contrasting a lyrical and rhapsodic Sweet Dreams. The suite ends with A Fun Day! brimming with energy and great character. Typical of Tony Osborne's music this is approachable accessible and very playable - full of jazzy rhythmic energy and style. Ideal for any school concert or performance with musical and technical challenges for the younger bassist.

Slightly more challenging than Book 1 [RM189] these three pieces (Arabesque / Scherzo / Novelette) are lyrical tonal and accessible with effective and supportive piano accompaniments. They are deal for the intermediate bassist venturing into thumb position there are musical and technical challenges in equal measure and they offer useful study or concert repertoire in an accessible style and idiom. Dedicated to M. Charpentier Professor of Double Bass at the Paris Conservatoire at the beginning of the 20th-century these miniatures offer interesting concert and study repertoire for any developing bassist.

Moving On Again! was written in 2007 for the young English bassist Eloise Riddell. Commissioned by her family the suite of three pieces uses a range of jazz and popular styles to create new and exciting music for the young progressing bassist who is confident in thumb position. Blues with a Swing is lively and rhythmic with effective syncopations to move the music swiftly along. The piece begins and ends with a jazz pizzicato figure contrasting a 'swinging' middle section played arco which employs a range of unison melodies with an independent and incisive piano accompaniment. Cool Jazz the shortest of the three movements has a dance-like feel a jig almost but with anumber of popular music influences. Much of the melodic material is given to the double bass and a strong rhythmic drive and momentum push the piece to a strong and successful conclusion. Wild Ceilidh is full of rhythmic energy and drive with an alternating 2/4 and 6/8 format throughout. A more relaxed and cantabile middle section is framed by music of great rhythmic momentum for both players. This is high octane music which offers effective musical and technical challenges and would suit anyone who has enjoyed Junior Jazz Book 1 and 2. This is typical of the player-friendly music by Tony Osborne and the pieces have been a great success in performance. Music to get the toes tapping!

A short three-movement 'characteristic' sonatina composed for Double Bass 2000 and premiered at Wells Cathedral School. Aimed at the intermediate bassist this is a work full of lyrical episodes and utilises the medium-high range of the instrument. The composer writes: 'My Sonatina a brief frivolous piece was partly written to exploit the range of the double bass both its lower and upper reaches. The first movement is in strict sonata form - exposition repeat and all. The second movement is tongue-in-cheek 18th-century form; the sonatina is a very 19th-century form. Its main theme turns up again as the middle section of the final movement a tinywaltz. Other snatches of material are common to all three movements.' 

Christopher Field has a lifetime's experience of singing and teaching stretching back to 1953 when he was a chorister at the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Later he won a choral exhibition to Trinity College Cambridge a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music and an Arts Council of Great Britain award for postgraduate study with Frederick Husler in Switzerland. His subsequent career as a schoolmaster at Dulwich College was combined with work as a concert baritone choral conducting and teaching singing and double bass. For many years a number of his teaching works have been included in the graded examination syllabuses of the leading examination boards.