STEPPING INTO THE SPOTLIGHT

Double bassist Rick Stotijn is a musical pioneer, playing in every style and context from solo, chamber and orchestral music to rock and metal. He speaks to Kimon Daltas about his new album, his continuing quest for the original, and the importance of mentorship

EDU CALICHER

Dutch double bassist Rick Stotijn’s new album Doppio espressivo is typical of his output only inasmuch as it is different from what has come before. But there is a pattern, he says: ‘It has to be original, so I don’t want to go the way that’s already been walked, so to speak. The good thing with the bass is that anything you do isn’t done very often. For me it actually starts with a basic idea and with friends who I really want to work with.’

The first friend on this project is Dutch bassoonist Bram van Sambeek: ‘He is a similar weirdo, in the good sense!’ says Stotijn. The two are members of ‘chamber music rock group’ ORBI: the Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments, where they explore the outer limits of their instruments’ capabilities with reinterpretations of rock and metal music alongside Hammond organ (or piano) and percussion.

‘We are always on the lookout for new repertoire, but also existing repertoire,’ Stotijn says. The Doppio espressivo project began taking shape around a work by the most celebrated double bass composer: ‘I wanted to record this duet by Bottesini, which is actually for clarinet and bass. Bottesini himself also played it with the great cornet soloist Jules Levy (the first musician to be recorded by Thomas Edison) as well as the flute player Edward de Jong, so I guessed he would be OK with a bassoon version, especially with a player like Bram.’

Doppio espressivo, as the name suggests, takes the duet concept and runs with it. It’s an 18th- and 19th-century affair, featuring a selection of works by Vivaldi, Bottesini and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, backed by Camerata RCO (a small ensemble made up of Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra members – in this case just string players). Another close friend joined the project, fellow bassist Olivier Thiery. ‘We had always wanted to record Bottesini’s Passione amorosa, which is the double concerto for two basses,’ says Stotijn.

Giovanni Bottesini with his c.1865 Testore bass,

Next came Finnish-born cellist Johannes Rostamo. ‘I play with him in my other group, Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble. He’s a fantastic cellist and also a very dear friend. He has a Baroque ensemble and his knowledge of music of that time – the playing and style – is fantastic. We’d been discussing ornamentation and experimenting a lot.’ Looking for repertoire, they turned to Vivaldi with an open mind surrounding arrangements. The E minor Concerto RV409, originally for cello and obbligato bassoon, took the most work, because of the bassoon part being more of an accompaniment than an equal partner: ‘We went through the different motifs and solo lines and we swapped them around, to make it more of a double concerto.’ The G minor Concerto RV531 for two cellos is described by Stotijn as more of a tenor and baritone partnership, with double bass easily taking the lower role. And that nod to vocal styles is significant.

The album is completed with two solo turns for Stotijn, focusing on the singing voice of the double bass: an arrangement of a Vivaldi aria, Vedrò con mio diletto, plus the Élégie for violin and orchestra by Ernst – avirtuoso violinist who was seen in his time as a successor to Paganini – in a solo bass arrangement by Bottesini.

From the music video of ORBI’s cover of Metallica’s

ORBI PHOTO HANS-PETER VAN VELTHOVEN

Fight Fire With Fire, filmed in the docklands of Rotterdam

ORBI (left–right): Bram van Sambeek (bassoon), Marijn Korff de Gidts (percussion), Rick Stotijn, and Sven Figee (Hammond organ)

‘The previous disc, Back to StockHome (2021), is a similar story. I really wanted to work with Malin Broman, another good friend of mine, and gather together music that I’d taken home from Stockholm over the years.’ (Stotijn has a long-term second home in the city, where he is principal bass – and Broman is concertmaster – of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.)

He also worked with Broman on his 2014 album Basso bailando, featuring works by Piazzolla, Rota and Falla both originally for bass and in arrangements, a recording that prompted David Denton in The Strad to describe Stotijn as ‘a quite amazing musician’ who performs with ‘pure, bare-faced exhibitionism’ as well as having a sound that ‘sings with elegant beauty’.

Future projects include a disc of French music, followed by one with composers who immigrated to America, focusing on Koussevitzky, Hindemith and Menotti.

Stotijn’s professional career is as varied as his discography would suggest. Solo performances include most of the totemic works of the bass repertoire alongside collaborations on new works with composers such as Louis Andriessen, Michel van der Aa and Ned Rorem. Along with his position at the Swedish RSO, he is principal of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, having previously also held principal roles with the Berlin RSO and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. This he balances with teaching around a dozen students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf.

Stotijn (front) with the Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble

STOTIJN’S MAIN ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENT IS A JOHN FREDERICK LOT T I. ‘I LOVE ENGLISH BASSES. THIS ONE HAS A RICH, CHOCOLATEY, NUTTY TONE’

STOTIJN’S INSTRUMENTS

‘I have eight basses,’ says Stotijn. ‘I try to choose the instrument that suits the repertoire. My favourite one for solo playing, which I used to record Doppio espressivo, is actually a mixture of old and new. The front, two of the ribs and the scroll are English, of the Panormo school. The rest is new, by Barnabás Rácz in Hungary. It sounds amazing. It has a beautiful colour and sound and it’s really good for solo playing, and also chamber music.’

He recently returned a Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano that he had on loan from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation for a decade. ‘It’s a fantastic instrument, but for solo playing it isn’t ideal. The shoulders are quite big and it’s very deep. It’s much more of an orchestral instrument. I was doing an increasing number of solo concerts and the repertoire became more and more difficult. So I had to climb up on the shoulders the whole time and it was just a little bit too big.’

Stotijn is on the lookout for a new main solo instrument, with the backing of the foundation. ‘We tried a Matteo Gofriller and an Enrico Ceruti and some other very high-profile makers,’ he says, but so far there’s been nothing to beat the hybrid Panormo–Rácz bass.

His main orchestral instrument is a John Frederick Lott I, assumed to date from the time he worked for Thomas Dodd. ‘I love English basses. This one has a rich, chocolatey, nutty tone.’ He has recently commissioned a copy of it with a detachable neck from Cologne-based maker Paul Benjamin Griesshaber. ‘It has become nearly impossible to fly with a bass nowadays, so I’m always on the lookout for solutions.’

Stotijn (left) with luthier Harry Jansen

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME PHOTO MATTIAS DE FRUMERIE. JANSEN PHOTO EDU CALICHER

When Stotijn was principal of the Berlin RSO, he played a five-string bass by Mittenwald maker Anton Rieger – ‘a gigantic bass with a whole bass section inside soundwise’.

Other instruments include a 2014 bass by Amsterdam luthier Harry Jansen, who has been a close friend of the family for years, and whose workshop Stotijn has fond memories of visiting as a small boy. Jansen previously built a small bass for a tenyear-old Stotijn when he joined the Utrecht Conservatoire junior department, and is now building an instrument for the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, where Stotijn teaches.

In terms of strings, on the Lott bass, Stotijn (who’s a Pirastro Artist) has found that Pirastro Eudoxa ones bring out the best in the instrument. On other basses he mostly uses Pirastro Flexocor Deluxe.

Many musicians come from musical families, but for Stotijn (b.1982) it’s more appropriate to speak of a long-standing musical dynasty. More recent generations include his father, Peter (also a high-profile double bass player), and his elder sister and superstar mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn (b.1977). Both siblings are past winners of the Dutch Music Prize (Christianne in 2008 and Rick in 2012), joining a roster including the likes of Janine Jansen and cementing the Stotijn name at the top of the Netherlands’ classical music firmament for the 21st century as well.

But if juicy stories of intense rivalries and jealousies are your thing, you’ll be disappointed. Not only do the Stotijn siblings often collaborate, but when I spoke to Rick for this article, they were actually together on a family holiday, with the sound of children playing in the background of our (mostly reliable) Zoom call. They clearly both take pride in each other’s achievements too: ‘I’ve always been very close to my sister,’ he says. ‘I was the youngest and she cared for me a lot. I still remember when she sang Rückert-Lieder with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It was one of the most beautiful experiences seeing her on the big stage with Haitink – I could have just cried. It was incredible.

Stotijn with his sister, mezzo-soprano Christianne

MAIN PHOTO EDU CALICHER

‘So my wish when I also started to develop as a musician was to perform with her, and so we did. After I won the Dutch Music Prize, we did a big tour through Europe with a duet written for us by Michel van der Aa and other recital pieces. We’re always on the lookout for repertoire to perform together. I love her voice and she’s also married to a bass player, so she’s got a lot of bass around her: her husband, her brother and her father!’

‘I DO THINK COMPETITIONS ARE IMPORTANT. IF I FEEL SOMEONE IS RE ADY FOR IT, THEY CAN TAKE IT – AND TAKE THE DISAPPOINTMENT AS WELL’

Stotijn’s bassist father is, of course, a big influence on his career, not least through teaching him for a period – though looking back they both agree that wasn’t a successful experiment. His first lessons were with students of his father, before he started studying for his bachelor’s degree at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, where his father worked as a teacher. ‘I think we had different expectations,’ says Stotijn. ‘He saw that I had some talent, so he tried to push me and encourage me, but at the same time he didn’t want the other students to think that I would get better treatment – so he would be extra tough on me. From my side, I sometimes really wanted to have my dad and I didn’t like it when he was super distant. So there was a bit of a clash. I’m very close with my father now, which is great, because I think we both can see the good and the bad from that period.’

Peter Jansen, long-time principal bass of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, agreed that the teaching/parenting situation was an impasse and offered to take on the young bassist himself. Stotijn blossomed under his guidance and rather aptly describes him as ‘a kind of a bass father for me – an incredible person’. With further coaching from the Hague Philharmonic Orchestra’s Quirijn van Regteren Altena, Stotijn’s potential was further unlocked, and he continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg under Božo Paradžik.

Talking about his educational experiences brings the conversation round to the value that competitions might have in motivating young musicians. Stotijn won a couple of competitions in his youth, including the Princess Christina Competition in The Hague. (The Dutch Music Prize isn’t a competition as such; it instead follows a two-year observation process, though it does begin with an initial audition to get on the programme.)

‘I was not pushed during my studies to do competitions, and I wish I had done more,’ he says. ‘I do think competitions are important. If I feel someone is ready for it, they can take it – and take the disappointment as well. I’m sending two of my own students to this year’s Bottesini Competition in Italy. The next one is ARD next year, and I hope two or three students will do that as well.’

One of his 17-year-old students has just taken a first prize in Germany’s Jugend Musiziert competition, coming through a series of local, regional and state heats. ‘What I see with him is that it actually made up his mind to continue with the double bass, because he wasn’t so sure. The whole process of those try-outs was probably more important than the competition itself. It stimulated him a lot – Isaw him turn from a teenager into a real young musician.’ But he also warns against sending students into inevitable disappointment if they aren’t ready, whether for competitions or auditions. ‘I don’t let them go if I feel they’re not prepared enough, or if they say, “I just want to do this for the experience.” I don’t believe in that. If they go, even if it’s an experience, I’m quite dead set on them giving one hundred per cent and preparing as if they really want to win or get the job. I don’t like the “let’s see how it goes” mentality.’

His positive experiences of mentorship from his teachers are ones he tries to provide for his own students. ‘It’s very important that I stay close with all my students – it doesn’t end with a one-hour lesson they get each week. I’m very involved. Maybe even too much! My family lets me know when my other “children”, my students, are taking up too much of my time!’ On that note, it’s time to return to his holiday with his real children – watch this space for the potential next generation of musical Stotijns.

Doppio Espressivo is released by BIS on 18 November 2022.

ONES TO WATCH

Some of the young double bass players committed to bringing forward new music for the instrument

GISLADÓTTIR PHOTO JULIETTE ROWLAND. SCHOFIELD PHOTO THURSTAN REDDING

Bára Gísladóttir Icelandic composer and double bassist based in Copenhagen She recently performed her first double bass concerto, Hringla (‘Circle’), with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. She often writes for herself as soloist, such as on her 2017 album Mass for Some, comprising a piece in nine movements for double bass, voice and electronics.

James Oesi British-born South African double bass soloist based in the Netherlands He is founder of the Dutch Double Bass Festival. Among the premieres he has given are four works for solo bass (by Boris Bezemer, Aya Yoshida, A. Crespo Barba and Thomas Power) as part of the Nieuwe Noten (‘New Notes’) initiative at the November Music festival in ’s-Hertogenbosch in 2019.

Florentin Ginot French double bassist He has premiered works by figures such as Georges Aperghis, György Kurtág, Rebecca Saunders and Helmut Lachenmann and has been a member of the Cologne-based new-music group Ensemble Musikfabrik since 2015.

Marianne Schofield London-based double bassist She plays as both soloist and chamber musician, with a focus on contemporary music, including as a founder member of chamber group the Hermes Experiment and a member of Riot Ensemble and the LSO Soundhub scheme.

Sam Suggs Double bassist and composer from Buffalo, NY His own works include Ursa (2018) for solo double bass, string quartet and two vibraphones, and collaborations include the contemporary classical and jazz fusion group Triplepoint.