Christopher Field: First Concert Solos for double bass & piano

About the Composition

First Concert Solos is a collection of inventive and engaging pieces for the intermediate double bassist. Remaining in bass clef throughout, alongside colourful and imaginative piano accompaniments, these short pieces offer effective recital and study repertoire which would be ideal for any audience or occasion.

Table of Contents

1. All at Sea!, subtitled 'A Nautical Medley', brings together four sea-themed pieces in a fun and accessible piece for the intermediate double bassist. Remaining in bass clef throughout and with few technical challenges, this is a piece which offers much to performers and audiences alike..

2. Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso is a fun and vibrant piece for the developing young bassist and would be ideal for both study and concert use. The opening introduction has a dark and brooding quality, emphasising the lower register of the double bass in slow and dramatic music, with an effective chordal accompaniment.

3. MBE Suite features three characteristic and engaging pieces for the intermediate bassist, described by the composer as "occasional pieces written to celebrate a friend and student's award." The solo part remains in bass clef, with simple and effective technical challenges alongside colourful and supportive piano accompaniments, and the suite is ideal for any audience or occasion.

4. Three Character Sketches, composed in 1968/70 and revised in 2010, are short, accessible and colourful pieces for the intermediate bassist. Each bass clef piece offers musical and technical challenges in equal measure exploring a range of styles and idioms, with supportive piano accompaniments which adds interest and contrast.

About the Composer

Christopher Field has a lifetime's experience of singing and teaching stretching back to 1953 when he was a chorister at the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Later he won a choral exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music and an Arts Council of Great Britain award for postgraduate study with Frederick Husler in Switzerland.

His subsequent career as a schoolmaster at Dulwich College was combined with work as a concert baritone, choral conducting, and teaching singing and double bass. For many years a number of his teaching works have been included in the graded examination syllabuses of the leading examination boards.