Again, you misread me. I'm a great fan of the double bass--I'll go out of my way to attend an Edgar Meyer concert or master class. I have a lot of admiration for the work of Jeff Bradetich. Joel Quarrington blows me away with his agility on his cello-tuned bass. I have more CD's of solo bass music than I have of tuba music. But a virtuosic performance on 'cello is not only more common, I submit that it's more possible. The size and other mechanical considerations of the bass limits its expressiveness. It isn't even built to the proper scale as the other members of the violin familiy (a bass built to the scale of a violin or cello would stand about 11 feet tall).Dickbob wrote:being a euphonium player, I am honored that you appreciate the superiority of our instrument *wink wink* however, I will grossly disagree with your statement about the lack of intensely emotion-provoking performances on double bass.
When I think back on really great stringed instrument performances that I've attended, Heifetz, Casals and Segovia stand out. While I've attended several perforances by Gary Karr, they don't stick in my mind the same way.
Let me put it this way; if Edgar Meyer and Yo Yo Ma were both in town giving concerts at the same time, which would you go to hear?