Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto

[Ken Smith]

Have any of you played the Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto #1 before? The Bass pizz from reh. 9 starts with Low C and is LOW all over this movement and in spots throughout the piece. Listening to 2 different YouTube vids and trying to look at the basses, I HEAR them playing it up an octave and not playing the line from the Low C up. Is this a copyist mistake, lazy players in both orchestras done decades apart or just a tasteful section change?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKVU6TzM8gg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOPM3kIhPkc&feature=related

If you know anything about what is supposed to be played, please tell me. I have one day left before the first rehearsal and the concert is Saturday. It's best I know what to play on day one.

[Anselm Hauke]

hi ken

i played it some years ago. iirc we played everything as written, low octave. it was in a german orchestra, everybody had a 5-string bass.

i recommend you play your 5er and take it as an exercise :-)

[Ken Smith]

hi ken

i played it some years ago. iirc we played everything as written, low octave. it was in a german orchestra, everybody had a 5-string bass.

i recommend you play your 5er and take it as an exercise :-)

An exercise it is. We have 3 rehearsals for this, Monday, Thursday and Friday. I have been practising with the 5er but all the recordings I watched, everything was up an octave. I took home my Hart (with C-ext) last night so I will have today to practice it either way on the octave. After Monday, I will know which way to go. At best, we can do 2 down and one up by the instruments they own.

Thanks for posting.

[Ken Smith]

Ok, I took the Hart home Saturday and practiced with it. Then I weighed the replies I got here, on Facebook and on the phone. I came in today, pulled the Hart out of the Case and compared the ease and difficulty of playing it on the C extension verses the 5-string. I think to play the lows, the chromatic extension is the most difficult, followed by a mechanical ext., then in 5ths on a 4 (Ray?) because of some extra shifts and then, the 5er is seemingly the easiest, IF you can manage a 5er, mentally more than physically. So, I am taking the 5er tonight and playing LOW. (:(:

[Ken Smith]

First rehearsal last night and it went well. I will play the 5er for the concert as it stands now. Playing those types of low passages on the 5er is much easier than on a chromatic extension. My stand partner has a Stenholm mechanical and had considerably more work on the keys fingering the notes down low but, didn't have a 5th string on the FB when not in use.

There is no perfect solution here when having to go down coming from the normal 4-string Simandl school. Two weeks after this concert I have another with a different Orchestra playing Beethoven's 9th. That one, I have played before with a C-ext. I tried it on the 5er a few weeks ago at a rehearsal and the string crossings are harder to do than the extension capo moves. Still not 100% on it but I have a rehearsal tomorrow and will decided from which ever bass I bring. I have the 5er in the case from last night but I might take the Hart and go that way. If I take the 5er tomorrow for the 9th, it's just to warm it up for the other concert in which I am using the 5. Or, give my left hand and my brain a break for a night and just take the Hart and switch back to the 5 for Thurs., Fri, and Sat's concert. :confused::eek::o

[Ken Smith]

If you have been following this indecision, I have news. I used the 5er last night for the 9th rehearsal and it was ok. Tonight just before leaving for rehearsal for the Cello Concerto, I switched basses. Now having played one rehearsal with each the 5er and the Hart I have made up my mind.

Instead of this (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/5string/); http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/5string/images/scroll-right-side.jpg
I am going to play this (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/hart/), which is my main personal bass; http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/hart/hart-restore-images/hart11.jpg