Show 202: Slap that Bass

[Added on 2015/7/18:  This used to be called Show 102.  I've renumbered the shows, so that this one is Show202.  The first digit will indicate which series the show is from: 1 for the first cycle, 2 for this second cycle, and so on.  For instance, the July 4^th show for next year, 2016, will be numbered numbered Show301, and so on.  If you didn't figure this out yet, my first show aired the week of July 4th, 2014.]
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A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by the famous Rick Smith, whose daily talk show we feature at 3:00 p.m. on weekdays on WXPI. His talk show is primarily political commentary, and while thinking of what we could talk about he happened to mention that he had played the bass, as a young fellow, and he approached music by listening for the bass line.

Most occasional listeners to classical music don’t find it easy to relate to the bass in classical music for various reasons, mostly because classical harmony is a little more subtle than harmony in pop music. Pop harmony is getting more sophisticated all the time, but after introducing a certain degree of harmonic complexity pop musicians back off, because they’re afraid that their music is going to sound too classical. In this show I’m going to try and highlight the bass lines, and what makes them interesting.

I also promised to put in a picture of a set of viols, which I have playing the Bach C minor Passacaglia, so here it is on the right.  Modern Double-Basses are essentially Bass Viols, with very minor modifications to bring them partially in line with the violin family of stringed instruments.  But the sloping "shoulders" give away it's antecedents.  In fact, a modern double-bass looks pretty much like the big reddish-wood instrument at the bottom center in the illustration.  (The phrase alio modo has something to do with onions, or ice cream.)

[Clicking on the image will take you to Gateshead Youth Orchestra]

Well!  At least one listener said that this episode had been the best she (or he <ahem>) had heard so far.  I think that's because the bass is a unifying principle in Western music, both classical and pop, and even jazz, for that matter.

Part A    Part B     Part C     Part D

Bach: Passacaglia in C minor BWV 582
This is the first movement of a two-movement work for organ: the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582.
The Passacaglia was an established form in the time of Bach; it consisted of a bass line that was repeated throughout the movement, with various harmonies and elaborations in the upper voices.  (Bach takes a liberty, in putting the repeated theme in an upper voice for a couple of bars in the middle, but the rest of the time it’s in the bass.)
People of Bach’s time must have had enormous powers of concentration, because the second movement after this monumental Passacaglia is an equally monumental fugue.  Played by the great Albert Schweitzer, for instance, the whole thing takes some 17 minutes.  The fugue subject is always accompanied by a companion line of music, so that it sounds significantly different from the theme of the preceding passacaglia.  If you would like to hear the fugue, go here.

Bach: Organ Fugue in C major, BWV545, for Guitars and Percussion
This fugue has been used as our lead-in theme several times.  I hear that it is a favorite fugue to be played at weddings in the former East Germany.

Mozart: Overture to The Magic Flute
This cut has a very brief explanation of inversion in classical harmony, especially the use of the first inversion.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D major, fragment of the first movement
The rocking version by Reinhard Goebel, and Musica Antiqua Koln.

Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor, the closing Gigue.

Beatles: 
    With A Little Help From My Friends
    Day Tripper
    Don't Let Me Down
    Paperback Writer
All of these have very catchy bass lines.

Bach:  Ach wie fluchtig from Cantata 26Rushing ascending and descending sixteenth-note scales in the bass.


Henry Mancini: Theme from The Pink Panther
You want bass?  We got bass.

Sergei Rachmaninov:  Vocalise
A fascinating bass line that moves stepwise with great lethargy.  The melody is believed to invoke the great yearning of Russian expatriates, for their homeland.

Maurice Ravel: Bolero, ballet for orchestra
I mistakenly said that the bass consists of three notes.  Well, it uses three notes for minutes at a time, and then moves on to another three notes, and so on.  The bass is very minimal.

Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No 9 In E minor, Op 95 From The New World i 
Nothing to do with bass lines at all.  This is a movement that listeners will enjoy.  Or else.

Ottorino Respighi:  Pines of the Appian Way
Pounding bass brass in this one, suggested by posts on the Internet.

Paul Simon:  You Can Call Me Al
Also recommended on the Internet, this song has a very funky bass line.

Archie:  Tune
Archie's bass lines, of course, are always put together to sound interesting.