Twangin' an' Bangin'
Bruce J. Taub
About this work:
Twangin' an' Bangin' was written in 2001 at the request of Lisa Chin Stokes, contrabass and Frank Cassara, percussion. Lisa and Frank had been thinking of doing a "theme" concert with that title consisting of a series of pieces for contrabass and percussion and I stole it from them. Lisa premiered my solo contrabass piece entitled Bassed On, on a North/South Consonance concert in 1999 that was "based on" the contrabass part of a piece entitled Fragile Lady for soprano, percussion, piano and contrabass (dedicated to the jazz bass player, Julie Bernardo; text by Edward Gallardo) that had also been premiered on a North/South Consonance back in 1984. I have been fortunate to have had a long relationship with North/South Consonance and Max Lifchitz. In addition to Fragile Lady and Bassed On they have performed/premiered my Toccata, Reflections, Double Exposure and An Exaltation of Larks. Twangin' an' Bangin' is a tour de force for the two players. Lyrical sections for contrabass and marimba alternate with more rhythmic sections for contrabass and drums and cowbells that contain numerous polyrhythms and percussive effects on the contrabass (pizzicato, col legno, left hand only, hitting the body of the instrument, etc.). Twangin' an' Bangin' is published by the Association for the Promotion of New Music.
Year composed: 2001
Duration: 00:11:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Percussion (General), 1 Double bass