Wonderful sonata by Czech composer and pianist Karel Reiner (1910-1979), written end of 1950's is still quite unknown among double bassists and very seldom performed.
I've discovered this recording of mine on one of my oldest external HDDs and decided to make a score video out of it. The goal of this video is raising the popularity of this composition at least a bit, as the piece and the composer as well would deserve it.
This is my own recording of the piece, I've played it and recorded it several times with various pianists 2005-2010, most often with my former collegue from the Musikhochschule Freiburg, Wolfram Lorenzen (1952-2020) on concerts in Italy and Germany. While I am no longer sure if this is one of two recordings I did with him, or the one I did with another pianist (also my former Hochschule- collegue, fantastic pianost, Aziz Kortel) I would like to dedicate this video Wolfram Lorenzen. I did several great audio recordings and Wolfram would have loved if I have published this, or several other recordings we have made together. But the market is tough, classical CDs weren't selling well anymore already back then. My worries about the financial risks were based on experience: even double bassists were back then reserved towards the less popular pieces (especially if composed in 20th century or later) and it would have been a financial risk to press even a small stock of the CDs, as the turnover would hardly cover the costs of the production. I just discovered this audio on one of my oldest external HDDs, I nearly forgot I have it - and I decided to make a score video and share this recording.
Karel Reiner was born into a musical family, his father Joseph, schoolmaster, was graduate of the vocal department of the Vienna Conservatory. Karel Reiner studied law at the Charles University in Prague and took in 1933 his doctor's degree. After the occupation of former Czechoslovakia he was arrested by the Nazis as a Jew, then imprisoned in the notorious concentration camps in Theresienstadt and in Dachau. He had afterwards further problems also with the communist authorities. Reiner was held in high repute as a talented interpretor of modern Czech music.
As a composer, Reiner wrote many orchestral and chamber music pieces. The Sonata for Double Bass and Piano is among the latest Reiner's works. The composition was dedicated to František Hertl. Reiner used very well facetious and harrowing expressivness of the depth of double bass in opposition to the high pitch of piano. Heroical main theme of the first movement in the higher-mid register is followed by a lyrical counter melody in the lower register. The powerful first movement reaches the climax not before the recapitulation, where first the firm theme begins in the lower register and converts in the high register into the counter melody.
6:08
As a contrast to the first movement, second movement is in the style of a real funeral march, reminiscent of an aching lament expressing human sadness. Yet this state of mind is again presented in the sense of a resolute triumph and ends in a feeling of tranquility after liberation.
11:59
The third movement is in a scherzo form and is in reality the finale of the whole composition. Its musical expression, recalling in places the Czech traditional dance "Matenik" (with confusing, variable time signature), is full of humor, both impetuous and playful. The lyrical contrasts give a picture of repose and relief.
- Excerts from the analysis by Dr. Jiří Válek (1923-2005) -
After the piece was first printed in 1959 by the meanwhile no longer existing state edition Panton Prague, the scores of Reiner's sonata weren't available in the stores for a long time. The piece has been re-published in 2003 by the Recital Music.