The Concertino for double bass and orchestra in C minor by Giovanni Bottesini has been recorded by several players, including the country-classical crossover bassist
Edgar Meyer. The booklets almost always dutifully say, as it does in this case, that the work is considered Bottesini's finest one for the instrument. It's hard to hear. There are all kinds of technical tricks, but especially in a sonically indifferent recording like this one it just sounds like an orchestra with a lot of muttering going on in the background. Maybe you have to be there. The virtue of this British release, originally recorded for the ASV label and later reissued by the indefatigable Naxos, lies in the lesser-known Bottesini works included, not all of which are even for the double bass. Two of the pieces are for a pair of solo instruments, two double basses in the case of the Passioni amorose for two double basses and orchestra, and a double bass and cello in the Duo Concertante on themes from Bellini's I Puritani. These work a good deal better on disc, with operatic melody largely replacing virtuosity and the two instruments standing up better to the orchestra. The effect in places is like that of a vocal duet for tenor and bass, with Bottesini forcing the double bass up to the very top of its range at several points in the Passioni amorosi. Three short orchestral pieces come from operas for which Bottesini was known in his own time even if they have since been totally forgotten; they are not without interest to lovers of Verdi. Double bassist
Thomas Martin is appropriately fiery, although the intonation is shaky in some of the duet passages. The studio sound, from the fabled Abbey Road facility, is part of the engineering problem; a concert hall might have given the soloists more presence. Still, this may be the Bottesini recording of choice; if you want to hear music for the double bass, it makes sense to seek out this disc rather than one of the others that ritually trots out the Concertino in C minor before moving on to transcriptions of works from other media.