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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
July 28, 2015
'Twas in the year of two thousand and fifteen
That I witnessed something I ne'er before had seen
On the twenty-eighth day of month number seven
I attended a concert which might just be heaven
To Phil's Hall I ventured and so did
The crowd for the evening they call "Basses Loaded!"
The ensemble first played music by Bach
And madrigals writ by a Sassenach
Or two, arranged by one Cameron, but don't think it sinister
He is not, I am assured, the British Prime Minister
There was also some Telemann and even some Handel
But to Bach, they could neither of them hold a candle
The opening chorale, as usual was played
With the bassists all round the hall arrayed
For some this seems strange, or iconoclastic
But, believe me, it all sounded quite fantastic
And there was a minuet which, fifty years ago
Made the top ten as "A Lover's Concerto"
Then followed a trio - Karr, Wang and Hsin
Whose playing was simply delicious - no din
Music by Mozart and Weelkes and Morley
Was just the thing if one felt somewhat poorly
Four pieces then followed for bass and harp
At Annabelle Stanley's playing, nobody could carp
"Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn", in an arrangement by Britten
Although for harp and the voice it was originally written
Then music by Ravel, Saint-Saëns and a folk-song
From the maritimes, with which they could surely do no wrong
After refreshments, Karr-Lewis played Paganini
Ichikawa and Katsumata something of Bottesini
The former was dazzling and in fact very funny
Nobody could say they wasted their money
The latter it proved a charming delight
With tone and with playing which both felt just right
When arranging the work by Mussorgsky that is Pictures
At an Exhibition it seems that the strictures
Of using just basses held no dread
For A.J. Mittendorf, who brilliantly led
The ensemble in his adaptation
A major new work for the doublebass nation
Two spirituals followed, using technique harmonical
But believe me, it sounded quite far from the comical
The Gift to be Simple, is familiar from Appalachian
Spring, the ballet with Copland's variations
And the concert then closed with two pieces in rag
Time, which, though it be old is still not a drag
So hurrah! for Karr, Lewis and KarrKamp and all
Whose fame it is such that they still fill the hall
Whose canines - Chai, Shiro and Sumi
Are such audience favourites; and to me
After almost two decades, BL weaves the spell
That inspires this writer to such doggerel.
The bassists: Mitchell Anderson; Richard Backus; Mackenzie Carroll; James Daley; Jan Heise; Jung "Rosy" Hsin; Masa Ichikawa; Thomas Jones; Gary Karr; Ayaka Katsumata; Sarah Klein; Nicholas Kleinman; Alexis Luter; Mary Rannie; Günter Rohde; Adam Rosen; Melissa Smith; Ruei Chi Wang; Emilio Vazquez.
The pianist: Harmon Lewis.
The harpist: Annabelle Stanley
The arranger/conductor: A.J. Mittendorf
The canines: Shiro, Sumi, Chai.
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