For this recording, Finnish violinist Elina Vahala and Dutch double bass player Niek de Groot have chosen and performed seven pieces, composed by six Europeans and one Korean. When a violin and a double bass come together, two sound spheres collide: particularly in recent times, many renowned composers have been inspired to create highly original realisations of such encounters. When a violin and a double bass perform chamber music together, it is a case of two instruments encountering each other when normally they are poles apart and play together only alongside additional parts and colours. This is where the composers who have come forward for this adventure of a violin and double bass duo link in: should contrasts be accentuated, or should the two parts be united to form one ""super-instrument"", as Erkki-Sven Tuur had in mind? Should the two instruments be protagonists in a ""narrative"", or do they appear as representatives of fundamental principles of human nature - as in the yin and yang, as drawn upon by the Korean composer Isang Yun? Whichever path is chosen, pairing the violin and the double bass is so fascinating that even busy composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki and Wolfgang Rihm have written magnificent and highly individual pieces for this combination. Violinist Elina Va¨ha¨la¨ is one of the most sought-after instrumentalists in the international music scene. She made her debut with an orchestra at the age of twelve with Sinfonia Lahti and was later chosen as Sinfonia Lahti's ""Young Master Soloist."" Dutch double bassist Niek de Groot is one of today's leading soloists. Originally a trumpeter, he started playing the double bass at the age of eighteen. Within an unusually short time he became principal bass with several European ensembles, including a ten-year tenure as first solo bass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
E**A
Great performance!
FANTASTIC playing and very interesting program of violin and double bass duos.
J**O
Disonance
I have three other discs by this duo and love them. If you enjoy the music of the chello and double bass, you probably will too. They are “chello bass, bass chello”, “long disonance romance” and “peppers waltz”. While the first is my favorite, all are worth investing in. I believe they are self produced as there is no label, such as Decca, and no mastering info is provided, such as SACD or DDD. But they sound fine, are enjoyable or excellent to listen to. Angel eyes on the Cello, Base disc is fantastic.Sadly, this one is not for me: I chose the word Disonance as my headline as, to me, it best describes the cuts on this disc . The artists attack the instruments and, in turn the instruments attack the listener. To say the bass, on one rendition is strummed or picked is a vast understatement. It is more like being jerked and released. Other cuts are devoid of melody/harmony replaced instead by, to use the word again, disonance.There is a genre and an audience for this type of music. It is radical and biting. But not for me. If you recognize the description I have provided, and it’s appealing, by all means go for it. Otherwise, if you enjoy the low notes, I encourage you to try one of the three discs I noted above. Be aware, they too are not classical music but are very good recordings. Some being cutting edge in their own right.
W**I
Great CD
Great music. A bit challenging.
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