Tony Osborne: Concerto for Four for double bass quartet & piano

About the Composition

Concerto for Four is a magnificent and monumental extended one-movement work for double bass quartet and piano, also available with string orchestra accompaniment. A rhythmic energy and powerful momentum drive the music from the first note to the last, contrasting jazz idioms with modern styles and English pastoral moods.

A wealth of expressive moods and emotions contrast music of a more dramatic and driven nature alongside musical and technical challenges for each bassist, who perform as a quartet, in various duos and as soloists.

Tony Osborne’s music, beloved by bassists and audiences everywhere, is instantly appealing and this amazing work, dating from the late 1990s, will delight his fans throughout the world. Fizzing with rhythmic vitality and spirit, this is a piece which can be performed equally in the recital room with piano accompaniment or in the concert hall with string orchestra.

If you are looking for a piece to astound your audience and dispel the elephantine image of the double bass, this may be just the piece you have been waiting for.

This edition includes all four bass parts and the piano accompaniment in orchestral tuning.

About the Composer

Born in 1947 into a musical family, Tony Osborne studied at the Royal Academy of Music (London) with John Walton (double bass) and Richard Stoker (composition), and divided a busy career between composing, teaching, and performing. A prolific composer and arranger, Tony's original compositions include works in almost every genre, notably Chaconne Syncopations and Wainwright's Ways for brass quintet, Celebration Fanfare for brass ensemble, the musical A Fine Time for Wine, a beautiful and dramatic Requiem, and many works for string orchestra. Tony’s music for young bassists is very much at the heart of the teaching repertoire, particularly his jazzy and enjoyable bass trios and quartets, and he had the rare ability to create wonderful music which is always player and audience-friendly.

In 2001 Tony Osborne was elected an ARAM (Associate of the Royal Academy of Music) for his pioneering and important work for double bass and was a featured com- poser at Bass-Fest for over ten years. He was a very successful BIBF Composer-in-residence in 2002-3, was a judge for the British Composer Awards and a judge for the BIBF Composition Competition from 1999 until 2015.

Tony Osborne died on 30 March 2019 at the age of 71.