Album review: Sofia Gubaidulina, In Croce (Wergo)

The classical double-bass repertoire is so meagre that even virtuosi like the late Stefano Scodanibbio were forced to create their own material or transcribe works written for other instruments. Scodanibbio's former colleague Daniele Roccato is comparatively spoilt for choice here by Sofia Gubaidulina's pioneering piano duets of the Sixties and Seventies, “Sonata” and “Pantomime”.

In the former, lugubrious bass lines are slowly joined by a salving trickle of piano notes, while in the aptly titled latter, dramatic diminuendos and fluttering glissandi are anchored by sparse, enigmatic piano chords. Elsewhere, “In Croce” combines the high, glistening tones of bayan (button accordion) with a dark, lowing bass part.

Download: Sonata; Pantomime; In Croce