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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
July 22, 2014
How many instruments are there which have been the subject of a short story by a great writer?
As far as I can ascertain, the answer is one: the story in question being Anton Chekhov's Romance with [a] Doublebass. It has even been filmed twice: once in 1911, seven years after Chekhov's death, by which time he predicted his writing would be forgotten, the second in 1974 with John Cleese starring as the itinerant bassist.
Although Tuesday's concert was distinctly light on naked Russian Princesses (clearly, there is still some room for improvement) it had just about everything else the discerning bassophile could wish for.
As is customary, the evening opened with a Bach chorale - "Erbarm' dich". Harmon Lewis's weighty piano chords providing the perfect support for the seventeen basses spread around the hall. Their intonation may not have been one hundred per cent, but their ensemble was immaculate. And I loved the way Lewis's piano faded into silence at the close, leaving the masses basses floating in the air (figuratively speaking, of course).
I doubt if Diego Ortiz is a name regularly bandied about in many households (it certainly is not in mine); the ensemble, now gathered on stage, played his Madrigal, Canción e Recercada, stately music from the sixteenth century.
From sixteenth century Spain to nineteenth century England is quite a leap; nor would one necessarily expect a bass orchestra arrangement (albeit a very well done arrangement by one John Kennedy) of Nimrod from Elgar's "Enigma" Variations to tug at the heartstrings.
And yet, extraordinarily, it did (Gary Karr's superb phrasing of the main melody having not a little to do with this). Gavin Bryars - himself a bassist and regular attendee - suggested afterwards that perhaps those of us who were born in England should have been invited to stand for this piece. It would certainly have been interesting to see how many others had a surreptitious tear rolling down their cheek.
Tony Osborne's Impressions of Elgar is a three-movement work of which we heard just the first, Simple Pleasures.
This is charming, delightful music, gently swaying in 6/8. It had several of us scratching our heads wondering which obscure piece of Elgar Osborne had plundered for his melodic material.
Pointlessly scratching, as it transpires, for the melodies are Osborne's own, which makes the achievement all the more impressive.
The first half closed with two pieces played by a trio of Karr, Ayaka Katsumata and Ruei Chi Wang.
The famous largo from Dvořák's "New World" symphony has a passage at the close which strikes terror into the heart of the average doublebassist, as they are playing unaccompanied, divisi.
Cunningly, whoever arranged the music truncated the movement well before that passage, although I cannot imagine it presenting any challenges to these particular players. The music was taken daringly slowly, but it worked.
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier was one of the first composers in history to have no patron; he obtained a royal licence to engrave music in 1724 and made a fortune selling his own compositions to the public.
Quite what this says about the public in eighteenth century France I am not sure, as Boismortier's music, based on the Sonata a Tre on offer, was somewhat production-line baroque, with no outstanding personality.
Having said which, there were some most enjoyable passages - I particularly enjoyed the second movement, with its alternating fugato and parallel sections, and the serious slow third movement, with a melody slightly reminiscent of Vivaldi.
All beautifully played, naturally.
The second half opened with two works played by a trio of Karr, Lewis and, on the bass guitar, Alex Olson.
Handel's Sonata in C major (presumably originally designated as a trio sonata, but for which solo instrument I could not say) alternated between the stately and the lively, with the lovely third movement standing out in the memory.
Franz Anton Hoffmeister clearly came from the generation after Handel; his Concertino No.2 was sufficiently interesting to make at least one listener wish to hear more. Karr undertook some spectacular double stops in the opening movement and the whole piece ended in jolly fashion. Excellent playing from all three.
The reassembling of the toute ensemble signalled the final part of the concert and I see that my notebook describes their first piece - Gluck's Hymne from Iphegénie en Tauride - as the "least serious music of the evening", which seems odd, to say the least. Too much Euripides at school must have addled my brain where Iphigenia is concerned.
The final items were definitely of the less serious kind, beginning with Jean-Philippe Viret's Beret, Beurre, Cornichons, a lugubrious waltz, which found the entire company wearing berets, which were then replaced by cowboy hats for the penultimate item, two arrangements by Tony Osborne performed in celebration of the centenary of the birth of John Wayne (thank heavens BL did not decide to celebrate this year's "other" centenary).
Down at the OK Corral and True Grit not only summoned up images of "The Duke" but also made one wonder how on Earth composers of music for Westerns would have managed without Aaron Copland (the opening of True Grit also put me in mind, bizarrely, of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir). Both were performed with spirit and a fine sense of the syncopated.
However, I am sure that the last item on the agenda was among the most anticipated: Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, complete with the appearance of Shiro and Sumi, the Karr-Lewis Kanines.
Shiro assumed his now-customary rôle of elder statesdog and settled under the piano; Sumi, on the other hand, marched to the front of the stage, from where delivered a single bark before jumping off and befriending the first few rows of he audience.
Oh yes, Joplin's famous rag was most enjoyable too.
In summary: it is difficult to imagine how the evening could have been more fun - apart, perhaps, from the inclusion of a naked Russian Princess or two.
Long may the Karr-Lewis Duo and Basses Loaded flourish! (Sorry, I can't do the Latin any more.)
The bassists: Richard Backus; James Daley; Caroline Doane; Christie Echols; Alessandra Grasso; Daniela Grasso; Wesley Jones; Gary Karr; Ayaka Katsumata; Sarah Klein; Nicholas Kleinman; Alex Olson; Robert Pierot; Mary Rannie; Günter Rohde; Julide San; Ruei Chi Wang.
The pianist: Harmon Lewis.
The bass guitarist: Alex Olson.
The canines: Shiro, Sumi.
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