Product Overview
This is a virtuoso album long time coming... Chris pulls out all the stops, his album spans works from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Contemporary and Novel others that will soon become the main staple of all Double Bass players advanced repertoire well into the future. His technique is flawless, musically he is profound and his compositional offering is masterful.
David Walter, editor of The Melodious Bass was friends for over 17 years with the famed cellist and conductor Palbo Casals. Casals was known as the Bach cello suite father figure, he recorded the world premiere recordings of the entire six suites. Prelude: Hommage e Casals is a brief tribute to the spirit of Walter's “best musical friend” J. S. Bach.
Giovanni Bottesini: Soloist, Conductor and Composer, was known as the “Paganini” virtuoso of the Double Bass. The much loved Reverie is a typical saloon piece, a meditation very much a representation of his Bel- Canto (singing) style.
The Valse Miniature is one of a set of small saloon pieces by 19th Century Russian bass virtuoso, conductor and composer Serge Koussevitzky. The piece has a typical romantic waltz dance feel, it is light hearted and makes a great encore piece with its triplet metered accelerated finale.
Poet: Nobel Prize Laureate Pablo Neruda was considered the national poet of Chile. He was outspoken in his political views, a senator for the Chilean Communist Party. His Poems were Surrealist, Political and he was best known for his love poems. David Henderson is an American writer and poet, he was co-founder of the Black Arts Movement in the 60's. Henderson is best known for his biography on Jimi Hendrix. The poetic tribute to Neruda and musical interpretation by pioneering Contemporary Double Bassist Bertram Turetzky render a truly powerful setting of Neruda's personal life and struggles.
A Life in Music: Words by Chris Palazzolo, is a performance piece commissioned by solo Double Bassist Chris Boyder. This recording is masterful. There are extended contemporary bowing and fingering techniques, along with full musical gammon of baroque, classical, romantic, impressionism, neoclassicism, serialism, cadenzas with extreme quarter tones and hyper harmonic glissandos, Jazz and guitar like pizzicatos... In-fact everything that is at the Double Bass players sound sonority is requested. The poet is required to make a pointing hand gesture to the Double Bass every-time to word There/Not there is iterated.
A Carmen Fantasy was written by American Bassist and Composer Frank Proto, as a tribute to Francios Rabbath, a modern day “Messiah” virtuoso of the Double Bass. An absolute Tour-de-Force of technical ability, the Fantasy is also extremely well written for both the Double Bass and Piano as repartee parts. The traditional tunes of the Spanish flamenco found in the Bizet Opera: Carmen underlie each movement. Each movement has a distinct modern contemporary, somewhat Jazz like interpretation. Aragonaise is full of the red cloaked typical masculine Bull Fights. The Nocture Micaelas Aria is practically tailor-made to the lyric sounds of the Double Bass. Look out for the upper register singing tones of the Toreador Song. It is a race to end in the triumphant Bohemian Dance.
Tracklist:
Side A
1. Prelude: Homage a Casals – David Walter. 3:45min
2. Reverie – Giovanni Bottesini. 3:02min
3. Valse Minature – Serge Koussevitsky. 3:03min
4. Neruda – David Henderson & Bertram Turetzky. 4:14min*
5. A Life in Music – Chris Palazzolo & Chris Boyder. 8:20min*
*Words Chris Palazzolo & Music Chris Boyder.
Side B
A Carmen Fantasy – Frank Proto.
1. Prelude. 1:49min
2. Aragonaise. 5:37min
3. Nocture Micaelas Aria. 3:53min
4. Toreador Song. 6:08min
5. Bohemian Dance. 5:49min
