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Hello,
I am Klaus Stoll.
I have been active in the Berlin Philharmonic
for whole 43 years and I consider this my musical home.
These feelings and memories
are closely connected to the many performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
And that is a prominent symphony when it comes to playing the double bass.
There are two arrangements that are very striking for the double bass technique
which developed strongly during Beethoven's time
The first would be the theme of a scherzo.
♪ (plays)
This sounds very subdued, very quiet.
However, Beethoven had written pianissimo and within one second,
that is the hardest at this passage,
within another second I play legato on four different strings
and in pianissimo and that is a tall order.
I go straight for the double bass bow and the very thick strings.
♪ (plays)
I now jump to the 27th bar.
♪ (plays)
With these loud sounds
♪ (plays)
I only support what is thematically played in the winds group,
that means I have to be very flexible when I play here –
♪ (plays)
then I play thematic material,
but the expression must be misterioso
very, very, very, very dark
and that was one of the true facets
in the range of musical expression that Beethoven produced
I will do this again from the start.
♪ (plays)
And here is a question for you:
Many double bassists try to play this bar with an up-stroke,
because it is naturally easy to play at the tip of a pianissimo –
♪ (plays)
but it does not succeed.
Namely, I must hold my entire arm up,
which means it is physically much better
when I can easily roll the bow;
rolling vertically and rolling horizontally,
just making one round roll.
Then, very importantly, I count at the audition: * bom bom bom bom bom *.
The tempo must be correct –
♪ (plays)
now I count even further.
♪ (plays)
That's what should be said about the scherzo.
I have to turn the bow on one side
so that only a few hairs of the bass string are spread and through that a softer,
low tone is created.
It must be like a shadow.
A shadow in C-major.
Then it follows the trio in C-major.
This means the trio is a major requirement for the double bassist to play a dance;
the theme is a dance.
This comes in our world,
not so often in our double bass world, that we play thematic things.
But here is a significant example,
we play a theme in C-major
that represents a large circular dance.
♪ (plays)
What's happening here?
I must divide and go back from piano to pianissimo.
Musically, I must express something
which is optical,
the group of people dancing away.
When they depart, they do of course not dance slower.
They remove themselves only and this musical optic,
the departing,
has ideally to be presented through a large dynamic difference.
♪ (plays)
What I have to show here
is actually a group of dancers who are spatially removed.
What do I need to do?
I have to handle my bow differently.
When I have to play here,
by the design of the bow,
the percussion is very strong -
♪ (plays)
and it is a great force that falls on the strings
and again throws it upwards.
If I want to reduce that
in favor of a smaller dynamic
I have to take a smaller point
and the concave shape of the bow shows me, here,
exactly in the middle I can control it best.
When I now want to play very quietly,
I must turn the bow on the side,
then I am not playing with 140 hairs, but maybe just ten or twenty.
This means I am not playing this tone –
but I turn the bow,
go to a lighter point
♪ (plays)
The tempo remains to keep,
besides everything else, the dynamic and the articulation changes.
That is what Beethoven meant
♪ (plays)
and later –
♪ (plays)
the bow only dances.
I think this is a recipe which we should work with and when we do that,
not only with Beethoven,
then we learn a lot about the physical possibility
which greatly strengthens our musical abilities.
I would like to say goodbye,
and wish you luck for the audition and end with something
the very famous Ray Brown once said:
"Don't stop practising,
before it sounds more beautiful."
Thank you.