Mikhail Bukinik: Fantasie Op.11 for violoncello & double bass

About the Composition

Fantasie Op.11 for cello and double bass (orchestral tuning) is aimed at the advanced duo. In one extended movement and in orchestral tuning, the piece is dedicated to Serge Koussevitsky and was first published around 1911 by P. Jurgenson (Moscow/Leipzig). The double bass is by no means the lesser partner and there are musical and technical challenges aplenty which should make this a welcome addition to the popular duo repertoire. 

As a cellist Bukinik includes many challenges in the cello part, particularly the use of double stops, and his other published works include technical and virtuoso studies for cello. There is plenty here for both musicians to 'get their teeth into' and Fantasie Op.11 would easily complement Rossini’s 'Duetto', both being in orchestral tuning. 

About the Composer

Mikhail Bukinik (1872-1947) was a Ukrainian cellist, composer, and teacher. Born in Dubno, about 400km west of Kyiv, Bukinik had a busy and successful career in Russia, also lived in Germany, France, and Switzerland, and in 1922 emigrated to America. He taught at the Mariinsky Institute (St. Petersburg), Gnessin School of Music (Moscow), and later at the Conservatoire in Kharkiv (Ukraine), and, although not a prolific composer, he produced a number of significant concert and educational works for the cello. 

Serge Koussevitsky (1874-1951) is known to many as the famed conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was also one of the most important commissioners of orchestral music during the 1930s and 40s. To bassists, he is known as one of the mighty handful, alongside Dragonetti, Bottesini, and Gary Karr, and his four salon works and concerto are still performed extensively today. Less well known is that a number of works were composed for him during his solo career in the early decades of the 20th-century with the 'Duo' for bassoon and double bass by Albert Roussel being the most well-known. Other composers include Bukinik, Georgi Konius, Paul le Flem, Fabian Sevitzky, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Guido Gallignani.