Bach: Orchestral Suite 3, Air on a (different kind of) G String, for double bass quartet (arr. Messina)

About the Quartet

In violin literature, composers and arrangers often use the term "On the G string". The most famous example is the "Variations on a Theme of Moses by Rossini" composed by Niccolo Paganini where only the G string is used.

Often, we hear "Air on the G string" referring to the second movement of the Orchestral Suite number 3 BWV 1068 by Johann Sebastian BACH. This refers to the fact that this movement was transcribed for violin accompanied by piano in the Romantic era. Of course the violinist is asked to play the piece exclusively on the G string and for this reason it is transposed from the key of D to that of C.

Since the double bass also has the G string, it seems interesting to me to perform the same type of musical creation using the uniformity of timbre of this string.