REVIEW: Springfield Chamber Players, "All about the Bass"

Springfield Chamber Players,
Springfield, MA
https://www.springfieldsymphonymusicians.com/
October 26, 2025
by Michael J. Moran

Today’s concert opened this ensemble’s second season at its comfortable venue, 52 Sumner, at 52 Sumner Avenue in Springfield, with warm acoustics and ample free parking. The aptly titled program featured Alexander Svensen, Assistant Principal bassist of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, who also plays bass in the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and elsewhere across the northeastern United States.   

The concert began with three waltzes for “solo double bass” (another name for the bass, as Svensen quipped, because it’s “twice as good” as other instruments) by Italian composer and bass player Domenico Dragonetti. Nicknamed “Il Drago,” his virtuosity so impressed his contemporaries, including Beethoven, that the bass soon became more prominent in many orchestral scores. Svensen played these waltzes with an easy swing, drawing on his jazz background.   

Next came Scotia Aerin Switzer’s 2014 “Five Miniatures for Solo Bassoon,” arranged for bass by Svensen and Switzer. The low-lying sonority of these quirky pieces translates well to the bass, and Svensen tossed off their technical challenges with aplomb.

Introducing Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1720 second suite for solo cello, Svensen noted that in its higher “singing bel canto voice,” the bass can sound very much like a cello, while also retaining the deep resonant power of its lower tones. An imposing “Prelude” was followed by five short movements in French dance tempos: a stately “Allemande,” a fleet “Courante,” a ravishing “Sarabande,” in which time almost stopped, two graceful “Minuets,” and a lively “Gigue."

Svensen was next joined by violinist Romina Kostare, also an SSO and HSO member, in seven of the “44 Duos for Two Violins,” written by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok in 1933 as teaching exercises for children. Kostare’s nimble violin contrasted sharply with Svensen’s hefty bass in these appealingly varied selections, all based on eastern European folk tunes.

Photo by Angela Park

The program ended with Russian composer Alexander Muravyev’s 2014 “Alice in Wonderland – Suite for Double Bass Solo.” Alternating chipper narration by Patrick Berry of six scenes from Lewis Carroll’s book with Svensen’s playful accounts of Muravyev’s colorful depictions, the piece was played in memory of local arts impresario Mark Auerbach, without whom Svensen said “the Springfield Chamber Players would not exist.” Images of a smiling Auerbach and of John Tenniel’s original book illustrations were projected behind the stage.

This entertaining and enlightening program by the charismatic Svensen and friends sets a high standard for this resourceful ensemble’s new season