Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

1070: The Story Behind ‘Lost Beauty’ – Szymon Marciniak on Recording, Repertoire, and Gut Strings

In this episode, I chat with Szymon Marciniak about his newly released album ‘Lost Beauty: Music for Double-Bass by František Hertl and Contemporaries.’ Szymon shares the recording process, the repertoire’s significance, and his experience using gut strings.

We discuss the challenges and inspirations behind the project, including the role of early 20th-century performance practices. The episode delves into the technical and emotional aspects of music-making and sheds light on how historical sound aesthetics shaped the album.

Check out this great new release from Szymon and Jongsuk Kim on the Solaire Records website, Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you listen to music!

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Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio is a valued part of an innovative fine arts community in a top research university. Students receive weekly private lessons and solo classes with Micah Howard, and Peter Guild teaches weekly Orchestral Literature and Repertoire. They encourage students to seek lessons and guidance from local bassists. Members of the Symphony, the Opera, and the Ballet provide annual classes and individual attention. Visit Micah’s website to sign up for a free online trial lesson here.

991: Szymon Marciniak and Evan Mitchell on their bass and piano partnership

This year’s San Francisco Winter Bass Bash recital guest was Szymon Marciniak, a fabulous bass soloist and educator who appeared on the podcast in 2016. Szymon performed an inspiring program with his longtime collaborator and pianist Evan Mitchell.  In this interview we discuss how Szymon and Evan have approached collaborating over the past decade.  Enjoy, and check out more footage from this event here!

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Check out my Beginner’s Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

265: Szymon Marciniak on DVDs, travel, and freelance life

Szymon Marciniak double bass

Szymon Marciniak played a killer recital in Prague for BASS2016.

The centerpiece of this recital was Frank Proto‘s compelling new Sonata No. 3.

Frank wrote this piece expressly for Szymon, and it is–to say the least–epic in scope.

Here’s a great photo from that standing-room-only event.  Isn’t that a cool pose?  We talk about that in the interview!

Along with pianist Evan Mitchell, Szymon recorded a CD and DVD called New Music for Double Bass for Liben Music.

This new release includes Proto’s Sonata No. 3 along with the 2009 Sonata by Richard Dubugnon, Lu Shang’s Fantasy Higgs Boson, and  Chiel Meijering’s The Ultimate Workout (Part 1).

We talk about:

  • this feature-packed new release (check it out!)
  • Szymon’s decision to leave his principal bass position with The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra and embark on a freelance career
  • strings, endpins, balance, sound, and much more!

Check out this YouTube video with the complete first movement of the Proto Sonata No. 3.  This will give you a feel for the incredibly musicianship and high production quality on this CD/DVD release:

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This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

Enter the D’Addario strings giveaway for Contrabass Conversations listeners at contrabassconversations.com/strings!