Ever since the funny Elephant from Saint Saëns' Carnaval Des Animaux, the double bass has had an image problem: as if the instrument can only produce unwieldy and clumsy melody lines. Double bass player and contemporary Giovanni Bottesini proved that it could be different with his solo works for double bass. Since then, the instrument has had fervent protagonists in the people of Gary Karr and
… Edgar Meyer, among others. The South African Leon Bosch has also acted as an ambassador for the double bass. Together with pianist Sung-Suk Kang, he forms a duo that taps into new and unknown repertoire for double bass. Hungary is the common thread on this album, with work by Zoltán Kodály and Jenö Takács as the main program carriers. In Kodály's Adagio (originally for viola and piano) and the Epigramman, the lyrical character of the double bass predominates. In this, the double bass almost sounds like a sonorous cello, but with a darker timbre. In Takács' Alte Ungarische Hofballmusik, the timbre possibilities of the instrument in particular are extensively measured with a kaleidoscope of playing techniques. The other tracks are filled with arrangements and smaller works for double bass and piano. (JWvR)more
