Bottesini: Gran Duo Concertante / Gran Concerto in F sharp minor / etc

"At the heart of most of the music by Bottesini which I have heard, there is an essential simplicity, a kind of directness of feeling, a sense of social conversation, which while it may not make for music of great profundity certainly led Bottesini to the composition of music which is tuneful, accessible and consistently pleasant." (MusicWeb July 2008)

Giovanni Bottesini was not only among the most famous double bass virtuosos of his time, but he was also a distinguished conductor and composer. Known to some as the Paganini of the double bass, he significantly extended the technical possibilities of the instrument. The Gran Concerto in F sharp minor is arguably Bottesini's most accomplished and involved composition for the double bass in which the instrument's resources are fully exploited with virtuoso passages and adventurous modulations. The popular Gran Duo Concertante, originally scored for two double basses, was reworked by Paganini's only disciple, Camillo Sivori, who rewrote and greatly expanded one of the double bass parts for the violin.