Forget about your usual fears of music written for the double bass. Giovanni Bottesini’s opera paraphrases are charming and fun and do full justice to that particularly 19th-century Romantic form. Soloist Gergely Járdányi is terrific. His tone is full and rich, and he seems unfazed by any technical challenge. That’s saying something, because these pieces have plenty of high-reaching virtuoso licks, fast runs, harmonic arpeggio flourishes, and other tricks that would give most bass players serious trouble. There is definitely a vocal quality to his playing, which adds another dimension to the listening experience.
Járdányi is especially delicate (yes, I said “delicate” about a bass) in the Fantasia on Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda. There is a long solo section with just a harp accompaniment, and Járdányi makes it appropriately light and sweet. Probably the best complete track, both from a playing perspective and a musical one, is the Grand Fantasia on Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Járdányi is eminently musical here, displaying the widest possible array of colors (much more than you’d think could be drawn from this instrument).
Járdányi is helped tremendously by the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, which plays as if this style of music were innate. (Of course, much of the result could be due to the prodigious communication skills of Italian conductor Pier Morandi.) The fact that Hungaroton’s recorded sound is fairly big and boxy–but not at all too bright–makes the orchestra sound even more like an old-fashioned Italian theater orchestra. I can’t remember the last time I heard a double bass recording that was this much fun. Fans of the instrument should run to find this immediately–and there is quite a lot to enjoy for nearly everyone else as well.
