Overcoming the distance
In the duet for violin and double bass "Wind strich eine Schattenmelodie" by Eva Batt, the highest and the lowest string instrument are involved. - A double review from the perspective of a double bassist and a violinist.
Walter Amadeus Ammann - A poem by Christiane Schwarze provides the framework for the intimate five-minute piece Wind stroked a shadow melody about pain, hope and consolation for the two loving souls left behind, separated by death. Syncopating, searching, dialoguing with pauses or duetting, changing from arco to pizzicato, melodies are created with melancholy, clinging semitones, ending in a comforting A minor. The idea of separation is represented by the distance between the pitches of the two instruments, which can also come closer together.
The composition by Eva Batt was published by Gilgenreiner. An important aim of this Swiss publishing house is the publication of music and teaching materials for double bass.
Heike Schäfer - Wind stroked a shadow melody is from the poem Previously inspired by the lyricist Christiane Schwarze. It is therefore a work that combines the arts of music and poetry. The widely separated pitches of the two string instruments correspond with the poem, in which two loving people, separated in earthly life, are far apart and yet united in their love.
The composer makes skillful use of the technical advantages of the two instruments. With its expressive parameters (e.g. metaphorical instructions) and effects (e.g. tapping on the body, sul ponticello etc.), the work has a distinctly expressive character whose message is impressively conveyed both acoustically and performatively. "It demands intonational, rhythmic and technical security from the interpreting musicians and requires a polystylistic approach in view of the figures borrowed from the jazz idiom." The foreword in German and English also contains the underlying poem. Supplementary material is available in the form of a CD and a volume of poetry entitled The silence of the shadows - Mosaic of a search available in stores.
The inconsistency of the language - German or English - is a source of uncertainty. At first glance, the piece appears to have been influenced by Swiss culture, but at the same time the notes in the musical text are in English. The publication of a purely English and a purely German version would be a good idea. The double bass part is available in both orchestral and solo parts, so a performance is not dependent on the respective scordatura. Wind stroich eine Schattenmelodie is a source of inspiration and an example of transdisciplinary art - it opens up new sound and word spaces for musicians and listeners.
Eva Batt: Wind strich eine Schattenmelodie, duet for violin and double bass; parts in score, double bass with two versions: Normal tuning and scordatura F sharp B E A, € 27.00, Gilgenreiner, Winterthur, ISMN 979-0-700268-32-9
