Viennese Bass Method - Lesson 16.

Lesson 16. - Romantic Music Arrangements

This lesson will present a variety of Romantic and even 20th Century compositions that have proven playable on the Viennese bass. Although a majority of them are short character pieces that are well familiar through the popular transcriptions for the other instruments, some - like Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata - will demonstrate that the further research may yield even more substantial pieces from the post Classical repertoire.

Also, is spite the fact that the harmonic and chromatic style of the later periods was sometime difficult to arrange for the D-Chord Viennese tuning, the reward is an offering of an exquisite literature that will present no obstacle to a competent player. In fact, some pieces - such as Faure's "Sicilienne" - indeed offer such a melodic convenience that it almost appears that they were written idiomatically for the Viennese system. The pieces are presented here in the loose chronological order that starts with Schubert and finishes with 20th Century classics such as Bartok, De Falla and Khachaturian.

Although this is the last lesson in the present sequence of the Viennese Bass Method, it is hoped that the further development of the Viennese concert practice will yield the first modern pieces written for this system too. The technical richness of the past and the possibilities presented in the modern literature arrangements offer indeed a bright promise that the unique tone color of the Viennese bass will continue to live and flourish in the future.

Performance samples featured in this lesson:

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Posted:          January 31, 2010