Alex Shapiro, composer: Of Bow and Touch

Of Bow and Touch
(Double Bass and Piano).
Total duration ca. 10 minutes (2000)
Published by Activist Music (ASCAP).
Adaptation of "Of Breath and Touch,"
commissioned in 1999 by Carolyn Beck.
One movement work. 16 pages, 8.5" x 11".

Premiered in October 2001 in Long Beach, CA.
by Tom Peters, bass and Mark Uranker, piano.

Also available as:
Of Wood and Touch

(Cello and Piano).
Total duration ca. 10 minutes (2001)
Published by Activist Music (ASCAP).
One movement work. 16 pages, 8.5" x 11".

Premiered in February 2004 in San Francisco, CA.
by Gianna Abondolo, cello and Teresa McCollough, piano.

Audio clip of "Of Wood and Touch" performed by Gianna Abondolo, cello, and Teresa McCollough, piano, in a live concert at Old First Church in San Francisco, CA..

Also available as:
Of String and Touch

(Viola and Piano).
Total duration ca. 10 minutes (2006)
Published by Activist Music (ASCAP).
One movement work. 16 pages, 8.5" x 11".

Premiered in April 2006 in Abilene, TX.
by Peter Neubert, viola and Stacy Kwak, piano.

Audio clip of "Of String and Touch" performed by Peter Neubert, viola, and STacy Kawk, piano, in a live concert.

"Of Bow and Touch is a very effective and accessible work, with artful melodies and inventive use of harmonies and textures."

-------— Hans Sturm, Bass World Magazine, 2001

"...a very interesting and effective work."

-------— Gordon Rumson, Music & Vision Magazine, May 2001

Winner of a 2001 award from The International Society of Bassists.

The bassoon and piano version of this piece, Of Breath and Touch, is featured on Carolyn Beck's 2005 CD, Beck and Call, on Crystal Records CD 846. Click CD for more info.

Listen to an audio clip of
Of Bow and Touch
for double bass and piano

View page one of the score to
Of Bow and Touch
for double bass and piano

See a list of performers

__________________

Listen to an audio clip of
Of Wood and Touch
for cello and piano

See a list of performers

__________________

Listen to an audio clip of
Of String and Touch
for viola and piano

See a list of performers

__________________

Purchase any of these scores

Score and part available from
Activist Music for $25.00.

Of Bow and Touch is a passionate and exciting piece for a double bass and piano duo, and offers an adventurous bassist a broad range of music to explore within a single movement. At the suggestion of my friend and colleague Adrienne Albert, and with a nod to my bassist pal Steve Wolf who enlightened me when I took the instrument into the range usually reserved for the, uh, piccolo, I wrote this adaptation of my 1999 bassoon and piano work, Of Breath and Touch. In its new incarnation, the piece presents challenging recital literature for bassists that I hope will also enthuse audiences.
Being a firm believer in the "more bang for the buck" theory of creative work, I also made an adaptation of this piece for cello and piano, titled Of Wood and Touch, and violist Peter Neubert suggested and aided with bringing the piece to his neck of the wooded instruments, with Of String and Touch.

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Review by Hans Sturm in the 2001 edition of Bass World:

Of Bow and Touch is a dramatic work with beautiful bass melodies and an intriguing use of harmony and texture.

The piece begins with a striking introduction: pedaled E flats in the piano echo over four octaves in the lower register. The bass enters majestically with a double dotted theme over long held low chords. After a brief fermata, the A theme appears, featuring broken sixteenth notes arpeggios in the piano, beginning with strong accents that slowly die away. While the piano texture remains consistent throughout the A section, the bass melody begins as an arc of long held notes, punctuated by sixteenth note flourishes and dotted syncopations.

After an extended passage of fast rhythms spiccato, the melody reappears before the rubato B theme is established. Rich quiet harmonies support a lyric bel canto, yet complex rhythms in the melody. Slight ritardandos alternate with a tempo bars in 6/4 throughout the B section.

A virtuosic cadenza marked "very freely, improvisation is encouraged" further embellishes the melody with double stops, sixteenth note triplet arpeggios, and intricate runs. The B theme returns, followed by a highly syncopated contrapuntal passage that accelerates into the final statement of the A section.

Of Bow and Touch is a very effective and accessible work, with artful melodies and inventive use of harmonies and textures.

Of Bow and Touch page one

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