MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS

Neomonology
Amando BAYOLO (b. 1973)
Mix Tape [16:36]
David SMOOKE (b. 1969)
Introspection #11,072 [8:13]
Michael HERSCH (b. 1971)
Caelum Dedecoratum (2006) [20:16]
Jeffrey Weisner (double bass)
rec. January and October 2011, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
INNOVA 833 [45:36]

Experience Classicsonline



 
I am something of a bass player myself, though on the subcontrabass flute rather than a string bass, which however has roughly the same range. With this in mind, I am always drawn towards solo repertoire and the kinds of experiment which, as Jeff Weisner points out, have completely transformed the world of double bass performance in a lifetime. Composer/bass players such as Gavin Bryars with his Double Bass Concerto and other solo explorations have helped bring the instrument out from the big bunch of woodwork to one side of the orchestra. This entirely solo recording by Weisner will do no harm in this regard either.
 
Descriptions of Armando Bayolo’s Mix Tape led me to expect something tough and raunchy, but the effect is actually rather gentle and classical. While based around pop songs of the 1980s, the six pieces are “arranged within the framework of the Baroque instrumental suite … like the keyboard partitas or suites for violoncello or violin by J.S. Bach.” There are plenty of technical connections as well. Counterpoint can be heard in the wide leaps of something like the central movement, …bird can swing… , which starts like a cross between J.S. Bach and an Appalachian dance. There are few actually really funky bits in the work as a whole, though Kid’s Got the Beat does indeed have a beat, and there are a few flights of gritty heft. Like pop songs, each of the movements are short, the majority under three minutes. With quite a high degree of poetic expressiveness this is a highly enjoyable and approachable piece which allows you to hear music and forget you are listening to a bass instrument. There’s some humour along the way, for instance in the grunting pig rooting around at the bottom of (A [Very] Brief Meditation on the Nature of) Parentheses as well as technically awe-inspiring playing such as the final Room to Lay the Law.
 
Davis Smooke’s Introspection #11,072 is, as the title suggests, more contemplative in atmosphere, “the second in my ongoing series of Introspections [exploring] microtonality.” The upper harmonics are used in an atmospheric opening, which opens out into further exploring “this tone world in the beautiful low register of the bass”. This is all very fine, but if you’ve ever hung around basses and bass players of all grades you will be very used to hearing this kind of thing and coming to realise how hard it is to play this large instrument in tune. Microtonality is an added dimension to music for which I have a great deal of time in certain contexts, but the timbral semantics of the bass make it hard to hear this other than someone ‘searching for the right note’, which in Jeffrey Weisner’s case is by no means an issue. This is the kind of piece which to my mind demands an extra reference point, like Berio’s oboe Sequenza which works around a single held note throughout. It has atmosphere and expression, but is alas not particularly memorable.
 
Michael Hersch’s Caelum Dedecoratum is by far the most ambitions piece in this programme, stretching the player’s technical abilities and stamina to the full. Both composer and performer have known each other since student days, and this always helps in such an important project. Having the sounds and capabilities of your musician well established in the mind and ear make creating an effective and substantial work that much easier, though Hersch admits to the “exhilarating and nerve-wracking” challenges of writing for such an instrument. Demanding to play, this is also more demanding of the listener, though there is lyricism and drama inherent throughout. It uses its 20-minute duration powerfully and without waste. Hersch doesn’t go in much for special effects, preferring to use the strings and resonances of the instrument with relatively conventional techniques, as a vehicle for strong musical ideas. Impact, style, poetry and theatrical flair are all terms which apply to this work, leaving space for your own associations and interpretations. This is not an everyday musical landscape, but it should inspire rather than be seen as one which strikes fear.
 
Superbly recorded and nicely presented with notes by composers and performer, this is a highly respectable Innova release - one which alas may be seen as somewhat specialised, but which is richly rewarding and deserves a wide audience. The word Neomonology seems as yet undefined, but is certainly coined in this release.Jeffrey Weisner’s selection of works shows his artistic vision to be one which goes far beyond showcasing the double bass as the virtuoso equivalent of other string instruments. By using it as a uniquely expressive vehicle in its own right he demonstrates worlds richly deserving of further development by composers and performers alike.
 
Dominy Clements
 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file