Bottesini: Music for Double Bass and Piano, Vol. 1

"One of the more interesting by-products of the proliferation of smaller labels in the perhaps grossly overcrowded recording business, made possible by the comparative ease of the entire process nowadays, has been the ready availability of music (and performances) that in bygone days would likely never have been issued. Thus not only one artist but now several have undertaken whole releases devoted to composers such as Bottesini, celebrated as the Paganini of the Double Bass but for most of the 109 years since his death remembered - if he was remembered at all - as a master technician who through a combination of technique and tuning extended the range of the behemoth of the orchestra. (He also wrote operas and conducted the premiere of Aida, but that's another story.) A recent local performance of the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass elicited the observation that this later virtuoso, composer, and conductor - sometimes known as the Russian Bottesini - could have saved himself (and those who undertook his score) a great deal of trouble by writing it for cello, for the tessitura is often stratospheric; and for that, thanks are due the Italian. Anyway, current catalogs now devote the better part of an entire column to Bottesini, and the present Naxos issue, labeled "Volume 1," may well be the start of yet another attempt to document the composer's complete works for bass and piano. More power to the publisher - but while they're at it, it would be nice to hear these pieces in the versions the composer intended, using orchestra or at least strings where indicated.

Still, bass players and fans of the instrument will surely be pleased with Toronto Symphony principal bassist Joel Quarrington's intensely lyrical work, and this CD includes several items not listed in other current compilations. Nonspecialist collectors may be astonished at what the disc contains, too, for it's not often that patrons of orchestral concerts get to hear a bass sing out in such a high voice. Quarrington enjoys fine support from and partnership with pianist Andrew Burashko.

The highlights of this set are the Allegro, which is a charming takeoff on Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, and the several very beautiful elegies. Aside from the reasonably substantial Bolero and the Capriccio di bravura, the other works are little more than encore pieces, but even they must have astounded listeners in their day - particularly with Bottesini himself on the platform - and they have a certain quaint charm now. Purists may wish to know that the Melodia and Rêverie were written for the cello. The Mendelssohn paraphrase and four other numbers played by Quarrington are also on a Dynamic CD by Ovidiu Badila, reviewed in Fanfare 18:6. Those who are into this sort of thing are likely to want both releases, especially since the latter contains several operatic paraphrases and the Carnival of Venice Variations. That said, we'll look forward to additional installments in the present series."
- by John W. Lambert
- Fanfare