Reverie for Double Bass, Op. 25

This is the fourth of my pieces that were previously published here on Young Composers forum but got deleted during the renovation of the website in late April - early May 2016 and that I am choosing to publish again. As I have previously mentioned when republishing such pieces, they number 181 and I will try to post some of the best of them from time to time.

This is my "Reverie for Double Bass". It is the very first piece that I shared on Young Composers, back on March 28, 2012. I am still fond of it. At the time I introduced it simply with, "This is a short Reverie for Double Bass I wrote."

This melody sounds vaguely Jewish. Is it? Very somber.

How pleasing to find a solo for Double Bass. As Ken320 says, a little sombre but could be made really expressive in live performance.

My only complaint is that it's too short. There's much scope for development there (possible once the repeat starts?). Otherwise, a pleasant listen. Lyrical.

On 10/28/2019 at 6:59 AM, Ken320 said:

This melody sounds vaguely Jewish. Is it? Very somber.

 

No. 

Music needs contrast for the journey to feel joy as well as trepidation and uncertainty. As Ken has pointed out, it does sound like Jewish music to an extent. It might help to elaborate what this piece is actually about. And you may wish to experiment harmonically.

I tracked down what this reminds me of. It is a lamentation, but it's not written by a Jew. It was on the TV show Mad Men, and it was written specifically to sound Jewish.

https://youtu.be/TsVCjykMHVw

1 hour ago, Ken320 said:

I tracked down what this reminds me of. It is a lamentation, but it's not written by a Jew. It was on the TV show Mad Men, and it was written specifically to sound Jewish.

https://youtu.be/TsVCjykMHVw

 

 

I had never heard it. But there is some resemblance in the contour of the two pieces.

5 hours ago, Markus Boyd said:

Music needs contrast for the journey to feel joy as well as trepidation and uncertainty. As Ken has pointed out, it does sound like Jewish music to an extent. It might help to elaborate what this piece is actually about. And you may wish to experiment harmonically.

 

Thanks for your review. I thought the title "Reverie" said something about it, in the sense of the meaning of '"reverie" as the musical form defined in the Oxford dictionary as "Mus. An instrumental composition suggestive of a dreamy or musing state." (Oxford Talking Dictionary, 1998).

"Since the piece was composed 7.5 years ago, I do not remember much about the circumstances of its composition. 

On 10/28/2019 at 1:01 PM, Quinn said:

How pleasing to find a solo for Double Bass. As Ken320 says, a little sombre but could be made really expressive in live performance.

My only complaint is that it's too short. There's much scope for development there (possible once the repeat starts?). Otherwise, a pleasant listen. Lyrical.

 

Thanks for your review and compliments as well as criticism regarding the piece.