Bertram Turetzky: Recital of New Music (CD) Imaginary Chicago Records 2010

Description: Digitally-remastered reissue of Bertram Turetzky’s classic 1964 LP featuring virtuoso new music for contrabass. Out of print for almost 50 years, this album redefined the role of the bass as a solo instrument. This digital edition gives a new generation of listeners a chance to hear the first album-length recording to feature the bass as soloist – and the first full LP to feature all new music by American composers. The album features Josef Marx (oboe), Patrick Purswell (flute), Shirley Sudock (soprano), and Nancy Turetzky (flute). The compositions are by Charles Whittenberg, William Jay Sydeman, Kenneth Gaburo, Ben Johnston, George Perle, and Donald Martino. Tracklist 1. Electronic Study II with Contrabass (7:35) 2. For Double Bass Alone: I (2:01) 3. For Double Bass Alone: II (1:52) 4. For Double Bass Alone: III (3:21) 5. Two (3:26) 6. Duo for Flute and String Bass: I (2:10) 7. Duo for Flute and String Bass: II (2:44) 8. Duo for Flute and String Bass: III (1:52) 9. Monody II for Unaccompanied Double Bass (4:44) 10. Cinque Frammenti for Oboe and Bass: I (1:10) 11. Cinque Frammenti for Oboe and Bass: II (1:06) 12. Cinque Frammenti for Oboe and Bass: III (1:01) 13. Cinque Frammenti for Oboe and Bass: IV (1:28) 14. Cinque Frammenti for Oboe and Bass: V (0:58) Bass World (Magazine of the International Society of Bassists): Wow, wow, wow, this is fun! We have Bert Turetzky from 1964, playing compositions contemporary at that time and by no means outdated at this time. Recorded twenty-six years ago on vinyl and recently re-released on compact disc, the first album exemplifies a truism: technologies change (at times with surprising speed), but great art is timeless. From an audio engineering standpoint, and to answer the "why" question (why re-release a 26-year old recording?), Recital of New Music sounds like it was recorded in the 1960s, but the music itself and the performances are quite current. Wire Magazine (England): Originally issued in 1964, Recital of New Music marks the coming together of a true virtuoso and disparate composers in search of instrumental accents and colours that haven’t been drained of life through overexposure. A comparable coincidence of ability and innovation led to Berio, Boulez and Maderna writing for flautist Severino Gazzelloni at that time. Bertram Turetzky is a phenomenal double bassist, recently heard in the company of George Lewis and Wadada Leo Smith. His first solo recording still sounds purposeful and involving. Signal to Noise Magazine: Recital of New Music is one of the earliest solo double bass LPs, with a roll call of ‘70s and ‘80s Nonesuch composers in its credits. It opens with Charles Whittenberg’s "Electronic Study II with Contrabass," which sounds both of its time and of the moment. George Perle’s "Monody II" requires the performer to read three different clefs and use a variety of arco and pizzicato colors. Turetzky’s sound is full and gritty – very much a double bass sound without "cello envy" – but still clear. Strings Magazine: Review #1 – Double-bassist Bertram Turetzky broke ground with his 1964 debut LP Recital of New Music, the first recorded collection of solo double-bass repertoire. Recital of New Music represents the beginning of what turned into an influential career as a performer, composer, and ambassador of the bass as a solo instrument. Turetzky has had a strong hand in the continued creation of new contrabass repertoire and style, most notably the "percussive effects from the use of his hands, fingers, and knuckles on various parts of the body of his instrument," according to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Also an author and educator, Turetzky has edited bass studies for the American String Teachers Association and wrote his own book on contemporary contrabass. Strings Magazine: Review #2 - I find it exciting that the long out-of-print double-bass recording Recital of New Music has been digitally remastered and reissued. This 1964 recording is Bertram Turetzky’s first album of music written for him. Throughout his career, one of Turetzky’s primary goals has been to increase the repertoire for the double bass and he has met with great success – he reportedly has had more music composed for him than any double bass player in history. A tireless innovator, he is constantly hunting for new ways to play his instrument. The bass world has needed movers and shakers like him. Classical Source: Unsatisfied with the dearth of music for his instrument, Bertram Turetzky's search for new pieces for double bass culminated in this first album of works written for him. This 1964 record was the first of many which document a life spent engaging with and commissioning new music from hundreds of composers over a fifty-year period. Today, Turetzky (born 1933) is recognised as one of the most imaginative double bassists around, and his book The Contemporary Contrabass is a handbook to new ways of playing the bass. La Folia: Every bass player owes a debt to Turetzky. I am pretty sure it was at one of his recitals where I first heard Tom Johnson’s humorous and virtuosic "Failing" (1975). Ripe with academic flavors, these works hug the 1960s’ start, and yet, nearly 50 years later, Perle and Johnston’s 12-tone idiom isn’t that far from Gaburo’s intuitive response to Virginia Hommel’s poem. Within Martino’s five brief pieces we should admire the squawky oboe’s energy and the grumbling bass’s contours. I vastly enjoyed the bleepy effects in Whittenberg’s bass-plus-tape study. Aufabwegen Magazin (Germany): Bei dieser CD handelt es sich um einen verdienstvollen Reissue einer LP aus dem Jahre 1964, die damals Bertram Turetzky als einer der Spitzeninterpreten am Kontrabass aufgenommen hatte. Das Reissue wurde von Karl E. H. Seigfried, ebenfalls Bassist, liebevoll remastert, und zeigt die ganze Kraft und Bandbreite von Turetzkys Spiel. Stücke, die den Kontrabass ins Zentrum stellen, sind eher selten – reine Solowerke stammen hier von William Jay Sydeman, Kenneth Gaburo und George Perle. Besonders das dreisätzige For Double Bass Alone von Sydeman aus dem Jahre 1957 hinterläßt hier einen starken Eindruck. In den kontrastreichen Parts zwiscehn virtuosem Zupfen und kraftvollen Streichen wird dem Klang immer auch ein komplett anderer Charakter gegeben; von schwermütig bis verspielt reicht das Spektrum. Eine wahrer Schatz an schillernden Klangfarben ist Ben Johnstons Komposition Duo For Flute And String Bass aus dem Jahre 1963. Hier scheint sich ein Umtänzeln der Instrumente zu vollziehen. Neben diesen spannenden, aber auch karg-spröden Instrumentalwerken sticht die Komposition für Kontrabass und Elektronik Electronic Study II with Contrabass von Charles Whittenberg fast schon bizarr heraus. Wie beröckelnde Eisberge krachen elektronische Klänge gegen die tiefen Streichtöne des Basses, eine kraterhafte Landschaft zeichnet sich ab. Dieses Reissue war eine der schönsten Entdeckungen im noch jungen Jahr 2011. Danke dafür!

Price: 10 USD

Location: Skokie, Illinois

End Time: 2025-01-03T17:19:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD