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10. November 2019 – Thomas Stempkowski / Wien Modern

The Sonnenton (126.22 Hertz) with all its overtones and undertones

The bass, in an open tuning, is only played on one string. Nevertheless, overtones sound together with the keynote, and they begin to float in the room, as do overtone singers. Parallel to the root note, first the fifth, then the third and finally the minor seventh – polyphony with only one move. Then the string at the bow contact point suddenly “capped” and behaves like a closed pipe. There is a sound that vibrates a small ninth below the root of the string itself. The so-called subharmonics are presented …

The physics are seemingly tricked, to the listener this phenomenon acts like magic. The bass is thereby put into a new light. It sounds like an octobass that reaches into the subcontra-octave, even in a dynamic playability. The finity of the instrument is extended almost to infinity.

Thomas Stempkowski – double bass

www.thomas-stempkowski.com