program:
music for double bass
Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988)
Nights (1972) 09: 41
[01] C'est bien la nuit 03:24
[02] Le réveil profond 06:17
Isang Yun (1917-1995)
[03] For Aki I (1981) 00: 54
[04] For Aki II (1981) 01: 01
Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
[05] therapy (1976) 14: 40
Manfred Stahnke (* 1951)
[06] Street Music III (1995) 08: 00
dedicated to Frank Reinecke
Hans Werner Henze (* 1926)
[07] S. Biagio 9 Agosto ore 1207 (1977) 08: 37
Ricordo per un contrabbasso solo
Bent Lorentzen (* 1935)
[08] depth (1993) 09: 37
dedicated to Frank Reinecke
total time 52:36
Frank Reinecke, double bass
Press:
19.04.2010
Frank Reinecke plays
Music for double bass solo
Violinists, cellists, and even viola players are lucky enough to be able to draw on a rich pool of solo masterpieces for their string instrument; the double bass players are different. While the few virtuoso concertos that were intended for them in the pre-classic and romantic eras mostly bear traits of the curious and there is an absolute shortage of weighty solo works, their ordinary playing - from continuo practice to large symphonic music - is the supporting and thus, as it were, serving function of the fundamental.
It was only today's composers who discovered the independent musical potential of the double bass: it is huge. Once again, Frank Reinecke comes up with the evidence for this thesis. With his new solo CD, which has just been released on the NEOS label, the Hamburg-born musician (member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and internationally renowned chamber musician and soloist) has finally established himself in the manageable circle of top double bass players.
Gripping and sound-intensive
The gripping, sound-intensive and gesturally rich artist has recorded a dramaturgically compelling program with works by six different composers. It begins with the two miniatures “Nuits” by Giacinto Scelsi, created in 1972 (harsh, trembling sound exploration behind the veils of black matter; foreboding floating towards pale beacons at the edge of the universe). And it closes with the piece Deep written by the Danish composer Bent Lorentzen (between phases of wandering, the deep sounding of the telluric forces between the Styx and the volcano), which was written in 1993 and is dedicated to Frank Reinecke. Isang Yun is represented with two endearing aphorisms: “Aki I” and “Aki II” – song-like structures for the son of a friend who played a key role in ensuring that the composer, who was kidnapped by South Korean secret service in 1967, was finally able to return to Germany.
search for lost time
Hans Werner Henze called his Ricordo per un contrabbasso solo, written in 1977, “S. Biagio 9 Agosto ore 1207”: A search for lost time in a ballad-like tone. The pizzicato study “Streetmusic III”, which Manfred Stahnke wrote for Frank Reinecke in 1995, has a rather jazzoid character and is microtonally sophisticated: almost completely lost in the groove of his own playing, the performer has to sing along in unison for long stretches - as greetings from far Bobby McFerrin.
Sublime mountain massif
At the center of the program, of course, is the work “Theraps” by Iannis Frank Reinecke faces the seemingly indomitable challenges with iron-hard consistency. He follows microinterval winding scales, rummages through trembling sound-noise mixtures and, after two-part, sometimes opposing glissando passages and repeatedly abrupt accent cascades, finds paths through zones of feverish phantasmagoria of redemption.
Fine puff and eruptive event
Recordings of unbelievable tonal presence have been successful. From the tiniest touch to an eruptive event: Here, listening is transformed into being involved.
Helmut Rohm
14.04.2010
Quantum leap
Especially because of one composition, this CD 'music for double bass', recorded by the double bass player of the BR Symphony Orchestra, Frank Reinecke, should not be missing from any good CD collection. Completed in 1976 by Iannis Xenakis, 'Theraps', which could roughly be translated as 'elevation into a higher state of consciousness', was a quantum leap in solo double bass literature. 'You live more intensely when you have to deal with tons of problems,' the composer is quoted in the booklet, alluding to the technical difficulties of the composition for the performer. And Frank Reinecke's interpretation is very intense - he emphasizes the dynamic contrasts, emphasizes the opposites in the two-part glissandi and in the floating double harmonics, draws rough and noisy not only the fortissimo rhythms with which the composition begins and ends, brings the beauties of sound to shine. 'Theraps' is one of the best compositions for solo double bass, indeed, one of the most exciting works of contemporary music ever, and you cannot listen to the piece as interpreted by Frank Reinecke often enough. It's almost as if the possibilities of the double bass as a solo instrument were only explored with this work.
Grey in grey
The other tracks on the CD, although written after 'Theraps' except for Scelsi's 'Nuits', have not made the quantum leap and remain rather pale in comparison to 'Theraps'. You will achieve the tension, the beauty of the sound, the inventiveness of Xenakis' solo piece. There is a lack of any intensity, as in Isang Yun's 'For Aki I' and 'For Aki II' (1981). There is no courage for innovative sounds in Hans Werner Henzes' S. Biago 9 Agosto ore 1207'. Neither Bent Lorentzen with 'Tiefe' (1993) nor Manfred Stahnke with his jazzy 'Streetmusic III' (1995) achieved captivating, dazzling compositions. You can definitely listen to these works, they only highlight the strengths of 'Theraps' even more. The only composition that stands out from the gray mass is Giacinto Scelsi's 'Nuit' - a typical Scelsi piece in terms of sounds. The CD is also worthwhile because of this recording. The attractive design of the cover and booklet, which, among other things, also used photographs by Reinecke himself, should also be praised.
Patrick Beck
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