James Oesi Brings Sofia Gubaidulina’s Lost Bass Etudes to Life After Years of Censorship
The solo repertoire for double bass was long relegated to a small pool of pieces. There’s been a big push for new works over the past few decades, and now classical bassist James Oesi is highlighting one with his new EP, Acht Etüden Für Kontrabass Solo. The set of etudes was published by composer Sofia Gubaidulina in 2009. Though it is based on her Tien Preludes voor Solocello, the work was unpublished for years due to Soviet censorship.
“At the request of Alexander Suslin, Gubaidulina reworked eight of these preludes for double bass and restored the original title Etudes,” a press release explains. “The cycle explores various playing techniques and combines technical challenge with expressive freedom. In the final movement (Senza arco), improvisatory passages break through the notation, allowing each performer to bring a personal interpretation to the work.”
Oesi is a proponent of using the bass as a solo instrument and has performed as such in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Concertgebouw Brugge, Utrecht’s TivoliVredenburg, The Oosterpoort in Groningen, and many more. He’s also the founder of the Dutch Double Bass Festival.
“Sofia Gubaidulina’s Acht Etüden für kontrabass solo are a seldom played gem for the instrument,” he explains. “Gubaidulina manages to compress a great range of expression into very little time with these pieces and as always she masterfully balances how much room the performer has for their own interpretation and expression with the text of the work. Being etudes there is of course also an explicit technical component to these works which definitely made recording them at times intimidating!”
The new album is streaming now on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, and more. You can also watch Oesi perform the work below on YouTube.
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
