A. Vivaldi, Philip Glass, JS Bach, Arvo Pärt, M. Corrette, Julien-François Zbinden, GF Handel: Le Phénix – Solo Double Bass in Baroque and Contemporary Music

LE PHÉNIX – solo double bass in baroque and modern

Change carries with it what has already passed, but also what will be one day... The origin of the »Le Phénix« program is more than the exciting juxtaposition of tradition and modernity. The focus here is on the world of changeable sound, which allows the recorded pieces to flow into one another or be abruptly interrupted. Virtuoso mobility, static fragility and dark power are in direct context here. Earth connection and vulnerability, the wide sound and pitch spectrum and the versatility of the double bass, also in the way of playing it, once made my inner chord vibrate. To this day, this instrument continues to give me new inspiration in my search for a lively repertoire that fully encompasses the double bass. My own artistic openness and curiosity guide me on this path. All of the works on this CD support my own enthusiasm for playing and radiate an openness to new things, partly due to the context in which they were created.

Transcribing works is the order of the day for the double bass player; our repertoire is limited and only finds its own form of sound in modern times. The interplay of double bass and harpsichord on this CD recalls and pays tribute to »the heyday of the gamba«. The summary as a concept program in alternating tension »old and new« makes an exciting complete work out of the seven individual pieces: Vivaldi with Glass with Bach with Pärt with Corrette with Zbinden with Handel.

The Sonata No. 5 from Antonio Vivaldi impresses with the balance of its four movements and the beauty of the themes. The solo sonatas were performed as divertimenti at court; the pleasure of playing and listening to the Sonata No. 5 can be heard and felt, brings this idea to life. Only during the Venetian's lifetime did the cello emancipate itself into a solo instrument. Until then, the intimate sound of the viola da gamba was far more popular with the "sounding" nobility - the class that cultivated chamber music. Playing violin instruments - the cello comes from this family - was not viewed at all in this class. May the cellists forgive me for succumbing to the cantabile beauty and swing of this sonata and playing the piece in the same pitch on the double bass.

facades from Philip Glass I see it as a shadow work for Vivaldi's sonata, which is bursting with life. The piece is the 1981 film score for Godfrey Reggio's film Koyaanisqatsi (in the language of the Hopi Indians this means »unbalanced life«). With no actors or dialogue, this film describes the clash of two cultures. The music accompanies the apocalyptic images of an empty New York - a symbol of the coldness and incompatibility of city life and its technical aids with life in nature. In my transcription unite in facades all the instruments involved in this recording - four double basses, harpsichord and piano - as well as the color and movement spectrum of this CD. The warmth of the accompanying double basses and the piano in contrast to the jangling cold of two solo double basses in unison and the harpsichord make deep abysses palpable.

The lost of facades still sounds in the first sentence Second Gamba Sonata BWV 1028 from Johann Sebastian Bach after. Musicologists wonder if this sonata was originally written for another instrument. Just as Bach's gamba sonatas 1 and 3 were originally composed for two flutes and continuo - the first sonata is proven and the third probably. The gamba sonatas are among the composer's best-known chamber music works today and are played by flutists, cellists, viola players and double bass players. All sonatas are set very contrapuntally, both hands of the harpsichord and the gamba, or here the double bass, are equal. What is particularly striking about the Second Sonata is the concertante fourth movement, which also has modern elements due to the virtuoso cadences of both solo instruments.

During this final movement I am already looking forward to it in concerts Arvo Pärt's mirror in the mirror, in which Bach's verve and liveliness still reverberate like an echo. Everything and nothing is possible in this piece, the interpreter has the task of largely holding back personally. Every listener gets the space that he gives himself. To Michael Ende's collection of stories of the same name The mirror in the mirror: a labyrinth remembering, there is no escape from Pärt's sound labyrinth. The individual, getting further and further away, always sinks back to the starting point, the central tone a return. Arvo Pärt has long since transcribed some of his pieces for a wide variety of instruments, knowing that this is about more than instrumental playing - about a spiritual essence that also speaks to the listener's subconscious.

The concerto conveys the high-spirited here and now The Phoenix from Michael Corrette, to which this CD owes its title. One immediately sees the swing and the dance-like lightness in the score. The subtitle in Corrette's score reads: "Concerto for four bass instruments" - for me a personal invitation to perform this piece, which is usually played by cellists or bassoonists, with four double basses. The double bass can unfold its amazing range of sound and pitch here both as a solo instrument in the first part and as a continuo and orchestral instrument in the second to fourth double bass parts.

The Homage to J.S. Bach from Julien-François Zbinden – a tonal “primeval work” for double bass – decisively interrupts this indulgence. The solo piece by the Swiss composer was commissioned for the ARD music competition (Munich). It is a work that really understands the double bass and has a lot of credit for it. Here the rising elemental force at the beginning and the baroque-jazzy second part are combined with the fragile fragility of the instrument in the last part of the work. The »swing« characteristic of this piece and its compelling expressiveness are additionally reinforced by the continuous presence of the tones b-a-c-h.

It is the almost verbal power and the simultaneous hint of vulnerability at the end of Zbinden's homage that Trio Sonata HWV 393 from Georg Friedrich Händel makes it seem so forgiving. Originally composed for two violins, it seems to have been written specifically for the double bass. Today the work is mostly performed with oboe and violin. With two identical instruments, the sound is so intertwined that one can hardly separate them. For the originally team-oriented double bass player, this merging of sounds is a pleasure.

Christine Hoock