A conductor's guide to the Eduard Tubin bass concerto

Abstract

This project will guide the reader through the Tubin Bass Concerto. There are moments in this piece, as with many other concertos, where the conductor needs to know precisely what will work when considering both the soloist and the orchestra. David Itkin, a well-known conducting teacher, and author of the book Conducting Concerti, introduces some thoughts that are considered in this paper. Regrettably, he does not discuss bass concertos in his book. This is understandable, as the least popular violin concertos are still performed more often than the most popular bass concertos. This is because the double bass instrument exacerbates many of the problems that exist in concertos for other instruments. Problems considering tempo, balance, articulation, phrasing, and tone are mentioned throughout the paper.