François Rabbath was born into a musical family in Aleppo, Syria, in 1931. Self-taught, he discovered the Double Bass at the age of thirteen. After moving with his family to Beirut in 1946, he played in a quartet with his brothers in restaurants and hotels. At the age of twenty-two, with the encouragement of violinist Yehudi Menuhin and pianist José Iturbi, he developed an original approach to the art of Double Bass playing. In 1955 he settled in Paris and earned his living accompanying Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, Barbara, Yves Montand, Guy Béart, Georges Moustaki and other well-known names of the French Chanson. His first LP, in 1962, earned him the Grand Prix du Disque award by the Académie Charles Cros. He has recorded several CDs and DVDs since then, with works including Bach's six Suites for solo Cello, played on the Double Bass. He also composes and performs music for films and television, and he now appears all over the world. During one of his concerts, at the Maison de la Radio in Paris in 1972, he met Jean Leduc, who offered to publish a method explaining his new techniques for holding the Double Bass and its bow and for use of the left hand. He teaches this technique in master classes. He also invented the 'crab technique' (so called because the hand movement resembles the sideways walking of a crab), whereby the hand can move up and down the string without ever fully shifting. François Rabbath is the founder of the international Rabbath institute Paris (IRIP), where Double Bass players from many countries come to study his new technique. He also loves graphic art,, and since giving an exhibition in Paris in 2010, he is also known for his drawings. / Contrebasse

Par RAVEL MAURICE. In 1922 Maurice Ravel heard the young Hungarian violin virtuoso and niece of Joseph Joachim, Jelly D'Aranyi, in concert in London. Following the performance, Ravel spent the remainder of the evening requesting D'Aranyi to play numerous gypsy tunes on her violin, probing her on the technical limits of the instrument. The result of this encounter is Ravel's virtuoso classic 'Tzigane”. Written originally for violin and piano or luthéal (a mechanism invented in 1919 that attaches to a piano, producing a sound similar to the rich overtones of the Cimbalon), the premiere took place in London in April 1924. The composer had finished the work only days beforehand. Ravel later orchestrated 'Tzigane” and both versions remain a 'must” for music-lovers and aspiring violinists today. Jelly D'Aranyi performed both versions regularly throughout her long career. This Urtext edition presents the first scholarly-critical edition of Ravel's masterpiece. It is published both in the orchestral version, complete with full score and performance material, as well as in the composer's earlier version for violin and piano. All known sources, including letters, have been drawn on for the new edition - one of the available sources, consulted for the first time, was a copy of 'Tzigane” from the estate of Jelly D'Aranyi, which is today part of a private collection. The version for piano and violin contains, besides the Urtext part, a second violin part as a facsimile with performance instructions by Jelly D'Aranyi. D'Aranyi's alterations and fingering reflect how Ravel must have heard the work in rehearsals and performance and as such are a document of early 20th century performance practice. The cooperation between Ravel and D'Aranyi is comparable to that of Brahms and Joachim working on the Brahms violin concerto. - First scholarly-critical Urtext edition of the work - Presented are both versions: for violin and orchestra and for violin and piano - Includes Jelly D'Aranyi's fingering/ Répertoire / Contrebasse