The Contemporary Contrabass. by Bertram Turetzky

Performance Practice Review
Volume 5 Article 5
Number 1 Spring
1992
"The Contemporary Contrabass." By Bertram Turetzky

Rodney Slatford
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Part of the Music Practice Commons
Recommended Citation
Slatford, Rodney (1992) ""The Contemporary Contrabass." By Bertram Turetzky," Performance Practice
Review: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 5. DOI: 10.5642/perfpr.199205.01.05
Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/vol5/iss1/5
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Current Jounrals at Scholarship @ Claremont.
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Reviews of Books 113
Bertram Turetzky. The Contemporary Contrabass. New and revised

edition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989.
xiv, 178p.
The curious breed of the virtuoso double bass player is hardly a new
phenomenon: even before the eighteenth century most musical capitals
of the world could lay claim to their own respected soloists, though few
commanded a reputation sufficiently great for them to be remembered
today. The Dragonettis and Bottesinis, exceptional though they were,
had access only to a limited repertoire and their instruments too had
their problems—thick strings with often unreliable windings, coupled
with comparatively primitive bows and little standardization of sizes or
dimensions. Today, things have changed immeasurably. Whereas a
century ago the virtuoso was expected to play mainly his own music,
recital programs of our time call for rather greater variety. New
technology has brought about a revolution in the instrument itself that in
turn has given players and composers far greater scope. Bass literature
today is rich in its variety and range of styles. Far more is expected of
the modern player than would have been conceivable even as recently as
the 1950s.
To understand more about all this, it is necessary to explain some of the

technology in a little more detail because it isn't fashion alone that has
opened the door to a new arena of sound. Metal strings, which were
already available to violinists and cellists, were still being experimented
with and only gained universal acceptance in the double bass world in the
1960s. Their advantages, apart from durability, are that they stay in tune
better, speak more clearly and can be made to produce a wider variety of
colors and more subtle nuances than were available from gut. For metal
strings to work at their optimum, the instrument must be in prime
condition and adjustments made when "setting up" so that tensions and
angles are correct and the distances from strings to fingerboard very
carefully measured. If these conditions are observed, metal strings can
produce a wide range of harmonics that can, with practice, be reliably
obtained; double stops speak better and as a result, more refined bowing
techniques are called for. But greatest of all, the metal string has
brought about an enormous improvement in the ever-present problem of
faulty intonation on the double bass: one can simply hear the purer tone
more easily and correct it accordingly.
Enormous advances in the world of recording technology have also

affected double bass playing. Microphones are now so sophisticated that
114 Rodney Stafford
even minute discrepancies from the soloist are all too easily reproduced
with alarming faithfulness and conductors in the orchestral world
demand accuracy and clarity from all bass sections. Gone are the days
when ownership of a double bass was sufficient to guarantee a post in an
orchestra—this was so after the war—today there is enormous
competition for positions. In the 1960s there were possibly three or four
available recordings of double bass soloists—today there are hundreds!
Inevitably standards have risen and horizons have been broadened and
yet somehow we are still seeing only the infancy of development.
It is to the exploration of this new world of sound, with its exciting

palette of textures and timbres that one of America's leading players,
Bertram Turetzky, has devoted his life. He once said that he was
unwilling to conceive of the contrabass (a word he prefers to double
bass) as a clumsy, poor relative of the cello. His work began with the re-
evaluation of pizzicato technique, not for velocity but for seeking new
vistas of color. He then virtually re-invented bow technique, adding to its
capabilities enormously. Since his pioneering days in the '50s literally
hundreds of new works have been written for him and he has been a
major influence on the thinking of younger generations of both players
and performers. Who better to draw the fruits of this work together in a
book that I found, as a former recitalist myself, a stimulating, compelling
and fascinating read!
It would be simple to make lists of notation used by this or that

composer, to sprinkle the text with a few examples and to leave it at that.
But this book is more than a catalog of notation. Turetzky, in his
passionate love-affair with the instrument, has been down all the avenues
himself. His personal recollections bring life to the text, which is,
incidentally, beautifully laid out and far more easily approached than
when it first appeared in 1974.
Looking at it from the non-bass player's point of view, and from the
European angle too, it is surprising how few of the very many composers
cited really are mainstream writers. Crumb, Francaix, Kagel, Cage, and
Henze certainly are, but many such as Leonard Payton, Peter Phillips,
and Cecil Adkins don't even all appear in Grove's and have yet to make
an international reputation. But is is they who have all joined the ranks
of composers who have discovered the bass "from the inside" rather than
merely following a book of instructions and coming up with bass parts
that are less than rewarding to play.
Reviews of Books 115
And surely it is this that is the key to it all. There is little merit in an
artist struggling with new concepts of technique and mastering what was
once considered the impossible, when the music is neither satisfying to
play nor, for that matter, very interesting to listen to. A professional and
highly respected colleague of mine (not a bassist) spent hours and hours
deciphering an illegible manuscript and learning, virtually by rote, highly
intricate rhythmic patterns in a lengthy work whose complex time
signature changed every bar. He was told at the first rehearsal that
accuracy was of secondary importance, only to discover that the
composer who had made this comment could hear very little of what he
had actually written down. What is the point? My friend walked out.
It will be obvious to the reader that most of what has been discussed so
far has only limited application in the orchestral world at the moment:
whilst the orchestral player is expected to play better than used to be the
case, composers writing for the orchestra have yet to explore the
possibilities that modern double bass playing offers them. Even in
chamber music, few players beyond the specialist ensembles will
encounter many of the more advanced techniques that Mr Turetzky
illustrates in 77ie Contemporary Contrabass. The gap between the bass as
a soloist and the orchestral instrument seems to yawn wider still. But the
sounds are there if one has the physical coordination and stamina to
master them. There are all too few contemporary contrabass artists of
the calibre of Joelle Leandre, Jon Deak, Fernando Grillo, Barry Guy,
and Mr T in the world as yet. "Come on everyone," is what the book is
really saying, "The challenge awaits you!"
A glimpse at what is possible will serve to show what I mean. Take, for
example, the apparently simple matter of the pizzicato. Which finger or
thumb is to be used? Which part of the string is to be sounded? Does
the passage employ tremolo pizzicato? So far, so good! But there are
four simultaneous pitches required—both hands have to produce bi-
tones. Why not? Added to this, there is a vocal line which is written
quite independently from the pizzicato rhythms. This incorporates
humming, whistling, speaking, shouting, and a multitude of clicks, pops,
and "squelches," for which the player uses his mouth. But it need not end
here. Some works call for an independent part for the feet. Consider
also the bass as a drum (the topic of a number of separate discussion
papers produced over the years by Mr Turetzky); it can be rapped,
tapped, squeaked, or gently bowed on almost any part of its anatomy, but
never assaulted with a mallet (perhaps even some players might wish to
do so!). This is a specialist's world, but there can be no other instrument
that enjoys so many possibilities and that has such a wide vocabulary,
116 Rodney Slatford
particularly when set in the context of other art forms such as mime or
dance. "Any place on the contrabass to which the player can get the bow
will produce some sort of sound, as well as a particular theatrical or
visual display." An extreme example might be For Love of the Double
Bass by James Sellars (1985), in which the player is required to put a
dress on the instrument and then to dance several brief dance episodes
(waltz, foxtrot, etc.). They end up in bed on top of the piano.
The techniques are all here—mutes, scordaturas, finger charts, glissandi,

slaps and mixes, circular bowings, col legno, and so on. Of harmonics
Warren Benfield once said, "I play them where they are most convenient
after figuring what the hell the guy wanted." Here it is easy enough to
see how best to notate what is required so the player can be left in no
doubt. I miss the demonstration disc that was with the first edition. Bert
has now made many recordings, so it is possible enough to find an
illustrated example of most of the techniques he discusses in the text.
But accessibility to specialist records is not always an easy matter, as
anyone living outside the USA who tries to track down a small American
label at a sensible price will know only too well. But with or without the
disc, the 1989 edition has so many improvements on its predecessor that
it justly deserves its claim to being "new and revised"; there are many
more pages of musical examples and many paragraphs have been
clarified and updated.
Mr Turetzky has chipped away at the foundations of traditional bass

playing for years—in the words of Barney Childs in one of the thirteen
classical studies he wrote for ASTA, "Welcome to Contrabassland,
folks!" Turetzk/s book is an essential for the adventurous composer and
the serious player.
Rodney Slatford

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Performance Practice Review

"The Contemporary Contrabass." By Bertram Turetzky

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr

Part of the Music Practice Commons

Bertram Turetzky. The Contemporary Contrabass. New and revised

To understand more about all this, it is necessary to explain some of the

Enormous advances in the world of recording technology have also

It is to the exploration of this new world of sound, with its exciting

It would be simple to make lists of notation used by this or that

The techniques are all here—mutes, scordaturas, finger charts, glissandi,

Mr Turetzky has chipped away at the foundations of traditional bass

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