SKU: BT.YE0007

Born in Oxford in 1917, Francis Baines was a well-known and much respected professional double bass player. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Claude Hobday, where he later taught. Something of an eccentric,he immersed himself in early music at a time when few people were taking it seriously. He owned a beautiful Amati bass that he had restored as a violone, which it probably was originally, and he was a regular fixture as aprincipal player in a number of orchestras and ensembles that dedicated themselves to period performing, including those directed by Denys Darlow, with whom he broadcast and recorded frequently.

Besides playing thedoublebass, Francis Baines was an exponent of the treble viol and led the Jaye Consort of Viols which he founded. He also played several kinds of bagpipe and the hurdy-gurdy. As a composer he dabbled in many styles, one of hisgreatest claims to fame being that of writing for the popular Hoffnung concerts in the 1960s.

He was the author of a number of papers about the history of the double bass, sometimes arriving at scholarly conclusionsthat were colourful, if not always entirely accurate. He discovered the Giovannino del Violone sonatas, subsequently published by Yorke Edition, although today it is thought that they were probably not written for a 16' pitchinstrument at all. His edition of the Capuzzi double bass concerto, published by Boosey & Hawkes, was for many years one of the few solo works available for the instrument. This, however, he largely re-composed because hethought it could be improved: towards the end of his life he confessed that with hindsight he probably should have treated it differently.

Grounds was written in 1969 as a sort of party piece and was given to YorkeEdition in support of a drive to enlarge the repertoire for the instrument in a wide variety of styles. It was set on the syllabus of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for many years.

Francis Baines died.

SKU: HL.48186481

UPC: 888680828264. 9.0x12.0x0.065 inches.

Francois Rabbath : Trombes d?eau for double bass (AL 30 748) The international fame of bass player Francois Rabbath acknowledges both the untiring teacher, author of a Nouvelle technique de la contrebasse, which a whole generation of students, desirous of freeing themselves from the fetters of traditional teaching, has taken up, and the inspired soloist, unsparing of himself in concert. For several years now, he has become accustomed to spending a few days in the summer in Kansas City (Missouri) to give master classes and a concert there, in the framework of the ?KC BassFest?. In July 2016, a moving surprise awaited him: on the stage of the American Jazz Museum a full-length portrait was unveiled, painted by local artist Ruthie Ingram from photos taken during his recital the previous year. By way of thanks, Rabbath dedicated Trombes d?eau to her, a solo piece lasting approximately six minutes, composed at the instigation of the International Society of Bassists for the 2017 edition of the International Double Bass Competition. Conceived as a series of short variations on an impassioned theme, the work emphasises evocative glissandi and explores double stopping and artificial harmonics without ever sacrificing the essential: the pleasure of musical expression..