Suggest Some Composers

[Slaughterer]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum.

I am looking to expand my knowledge base of classical music. I have always listened to some of the more famous composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi etc.

I am now specifically looking for something where cellos and a bass undertone play a large role in the music.

I am not familiar with the technical terms, so please bare with me .

[moldyoldie]

As a fairly recent "recruit" myself, let me offer my welcome.

I am now specifically looking for something where cellos and a bass undertone play a large role in the music.

A couple things popped into my head almost immediately:

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1; a great, semi-popular piece in three movements scored for eight cellos.

Mahler: Symphony No. 1; another popular work where the lower strings are most prominent.

[Slaughterer]

Thanx moldyoldie

Will give them a listen .

[Ralph]

Welcome! Hope you join in our discussions regularly.

If you enjoy a deep bass sound, you must discover Dittersdorf, one of the greatest but least known (in America) composers.

[lmpower]

You might try the symphonies of Sibelius for some powerful deep bass sounds.

[Slaughterer]

Thanks for replying and the suggestions.

Will certainly give them a listen. Hopefully finding some of the works will be easy

[Brahms]

Brahms, Piano Concerto no. 1 in d minor, op. 15 (first movement esp)

[ratsrcute]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum.

I am looking to expand my knowledge base of classical music. I have always listened to some of the more famous composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi etc.

I am now specifically looking for something where cellos and a bass undertone play a large role in the music.

I am not familiar with the technical terms, so please bare with me .

Welcome! Could you describe a little more about bass sounds and what you like about them? I mean, we could assume that you like bass because it's big and impressive, but perhaps you have other reasons.

If it is the big and impressive nature of bass that you like, have you thought about brass music? I have a CD of a trombone quartet called the Triton Quartet playing German music. They have an enormous sound, with gorgeous intonation. There's a baritone (singer) on the recording too, and amazingly enough he sounds like a trombone. He can get his voice to blend with trombones which are probably the loudest brass instruments (or close to it).
Enjoy your stay here,
Mike

[walboi]

Well a Orchestra has more than basses and cello's. There are no compositions entirely devoted to the lower strings. And your stepping into classical music via compositions with lots of basses and celli is a bit odd!

[johnshade]

One of the first composers I liked is Bela Bartok. I started with 20th Century composers and worked back in time. I suggest a disc with "Concerto for Orchestra" and "Music for strings, percussion and celesta".

I also suggest the tone poems of Richard Strauss -- Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben, Alpine Symphony, Don Quixote, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. Strauss was a master of melody and orchestration.

JS

[Slaughterer]

Could you describe a little more about bass sounds and what you like about them? I mean, we could assume that you like bass because it's big and impressive, but perhaps you have other reasons.

And your stepping into classical music via compositions with lots of basses and celli is a bit odd!

I primarily listen to metal, I have for quite a few years, but I have always enjoyed classical music, I'm trying to find something comparable to Wagner's work and compositions like Bach's Toccata and Fugue. I also particularly enjoy Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and various other works (and yes, I know these are some of the most popular, but I still like them). The bass adds power to the music for me, and that's what I love. In some works I enjoy the macabre atmosphere it creates.

I'm not sure if any of you have heard of a band called Apocalyptica. They used to do covers of Metallica entirely on cellos and are now doing their own thing. Might be going off topic now for a classical music forum, but what I'm getting at is that I love the sound of bass instruments. I don't always enjoy 'frilly' compositions so to say, like some of Vivaldi's.

Hope this clears up a few things
If not, let me know.

:: moldyoldie ::

Mahler: Symphony No. 1; another popular work where the lower strings are most prominent.

I have managed to find a CD of his 5th Symphony and i quite enjoy Sherzo. Thank you . As for some of the other composers, I'm still trying to get hold of their music.

[Brendan]

If you like metal and are looking for "Wagneresque" pieces, try the Bruckner symphonies. Maybe start with the scherzos to get the feel of them. Carmina Burana is also usually a hit with metal fans.

[jbuck919]

Carmina Burana is also usually a hit with metal fans.

So is the score of Jaws. I know, Brendan, that you were not intending to be condescending, but that is the impression one leaves on a board like this when one makes a recommendation based on what someone might like if he is a "metal fan."

A classic moment for bass is the scherzo from the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, one of the great (and few) passages for the double bass section. Double bass players are still kept in shape by the awareness that they will from time to time be called upon to play this passage. That is what bass means in classical music, not emotive grumbles at the low end of the human hearing range.

[maskedman]

[quote="jbuck919"][quote="Brendan"]Carmina Burana is also usually a hit with metal fans.[/quote]

So is the score of [i]Jaws[/i]. I know, Brendan, that you were not intending to be condescending, but that is the impression one leaves on a board like this when one makes a recommendation based on what someone might like if he is a "metal fan."

A classic moment for bass is the scherzo from the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, one of the great (and few) passages for the double bass section. Double bass players are still kept in shape by the awareness that they will from time to time be called upon to play this passage. That is what bass means in classical music, not emotive grumbles at the low end of the human hearing range.[/quote]

Edgar Meyer.....

[xiaopv]

Maybe you want to give a shot to Elgar's Cello concerto.

[IcedNote]

Welcome!

I'm also a huge metal fan...Deftones, old Metallica, Meshuggah, Cryptopsy, etc.

I'll ignore your preference for bass and just recommend some darker composers/pieces that I enjoy.

Mahler: Symphonies 2 and 5
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 4
Scriabin: Prometheus
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

That should be a good start.

-G

[BWV 1080]

Welcome!

I'm also a huge metal fan...Deftones, old Metallica, Meshuggah, Cryptopsy, etc.

I'll ignore your preference for bass and just recommend some darker composers/pieces that I enjoy.

Mahler: Symphonies 2 and 5
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 4
Scriabin: Prometheus
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

That should be a good start.

-G

For a Meshuggah fan, you ought to go darker than that:

Bartok: 3rd String Quartet, Miraculous Mandarin
Schoenberg: Perriot Lunaire
Shostakovich: Viola Sonata, 8th SQ
Ligeti: Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto
Lutoslawski: Chain 3, Piano Concerto
Carter: Piano Concerto, Concerto for Orchestra, 3rd String Qt
Schnittke: 5th Symphony, 3rd String Quartet
Dutilleux: Cello Concerto

[RebLem]

Well, lets see--

There are a few Double Bass Concerti around, and other pieces, most notably the Koussevitzky Double Bass Concerto. Koussevitzky was a great conductor who was a double bassist before he was a conductor.
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/alb ... m_id=25281

Here is a 3 CD set of all of Boccherini's 12 cello concerti.
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/alb ... _id=108815

Hindemith also embarked on a project to compose at least one sonata for every instrument in a symphony orchestra. He died before he could complete it, but he was well along. Here is a list of all his chamber music from ArkivMusic--he wrote a sonata for double bass, a sonata for bass tuba, 3 organ sonatas, and an octet and other pieces featuring double bass.
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Dri ... 1&genre=70

Schubert's Trout Quintet includes double bass. 76 listings for it at ArkivMusic. http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Dri ... mp_id=8620

Also, check out Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bass
About 2/3 of the way through the Wiki article, there is a subheading called "Classical repertoire" that is about 2 1/2 full screens long.

[piston]

Here's something unusual, even unique perhaps. In May 1956, a group of professional and amateur 'cellists founded The Violoncello Society of New York. Two years later, 32 members of the society, under the direction of Villa-Lobos, recorded his Fantasia Concertante for Orchestra of Violoncellos, along with the composer's transcription of Bach's Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, again for an orchestra of 32 'cellists. It's on Everest 3024 (c.1959) and I don't know if it was remastered for CD.

P.S. It is written, on the back cover, that the aggregate value of the 32 'cellos thus gathered in the same room amounted, in the 1950's, to over $300,000.

[IcedNote]

For a Meshuggah fan, you ought to go darker than that:

Bartok: 3rd String Quartet, Miraculous Mandarin
Schoenberg: Perriot Lunaire
Shostakovich: Viola Sonata, 8th SQ
Ligeti: Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto
Lutoslawski: Chain 3, Piano Concerto
Carter: Piano Concerto, Concerto for Orchestra, 3rd String Qt
Schnittke: 5th Symphony, 3rd String Quartet
Dutilleux: Cello Concerto

All good suggestions...but I was just trying to ease him in a bit.

-G