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This effective four-movement piece, originally called Duet for Violin and Bass, was written in 1967 and later published with revisions in 1974. Written for David Walter, the piece is both technically and stylistically demanding for both players and Proto asks that both performers improvise (the bassist is called upon to do so to a much greater degree than the violinist).
The first movement is a short Largo that serves as an introduction to the piece. There is a slow pulse to the movement with an underlying tension between the bass and the violin. Phrases always begin with the violin starting before the bass enters at a dissonant interval of a seventh or a second, and the bass ends the two main sections of the movement alone with short cadeza-like passages. The next movement begins with a dance-like theme in the violin that quickly becomes twisted with 4/8 measures, four again three figures between the instruments, long glissandi, and furious walking jazz bass riffs that are played in octaves by the bass and violin. The third movement is a haunting, muted, almost hypnotic movement that features an improvised bass cadenza.
The final, extended and exciting movement begins with a grand introduction played in octaves. There is then a 2/4 + 5/8 ostinato that the bass plays while the violin performs a free, improvisatory solo before the roles are reversed and the violin takes over the repeating figure while the bass plays the solo. The ostinato then morphs into a 6/4 jazz groove that the bass plays during an extended violin solo. Towards the end of this solo, Proto asks that while time is kept, there is a feeling that the bar lines disappear and the violin part becomes independent of the bass line. After an improvised bass cadenza, a return of the 2/4 + 5/8 section, and a written violin cadenza (in which fragments of previous movements are heard), the piece addresses the tension created in the first movement as bass and violin end together in slow, rhythmically unison resolution.
While this piece is certainly complicated and written for accomplished performers, preparing this piece would be well worth the effort for both the musicians and the audience, who would be treated to an unforgettable musical experience.
Sandor Ostlund
Bassworld
This work will already be familiar to many bassists as Proto's Duet for Violin and Bass. The revised edition presented here restores changes made to the original for the duo partnership of David Walter and violinist Janet Spicer. Alongside minor alterations, Proto has reinstated the last movement's long, improvised bass solo.
Duo No. 1 is a significant work, extending to some 21 minutes on the composer's own recording, and makes strong stylistic and technical demands of both players. The first movement, Largo, establishes the meditative, searching relationship developed throughout the work with harmonic intervals coming tantalising close, but never quite finding each other. A playful second movement completely changes the mood before a return to introspection in the third movement, Adagio.
A grand, unison fanfare introduces the fourth movement, Maestoso, Allegro, Adagio, which features complex rhythmic interplay and provides testing challenges of ensemble. Clearly defined parameters in lengthy improvised sections still allow a great deal of freedom to both players, particularly the bassist. Powerful ostinato riffs drive the music forward until the duo partners at last find common ground in the closing adagio coda.
Ian Crawford
Double Bassist
