I’ve heard clips from double bass violas, contrabass sax, and the lower range of pianos and pipe organs. But has anyone composed music using several such instruments together?
There are numerous examples.
Tuba and double bass are standard orchestration in most late romantic music, especially the Germans liked those low sounds. The parts sometimes double but they are frequently independant.
Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra. Organ, double bass and tuba.
Bruckner - Symphony #7 (and maybe #4), tuba and contrabassoon and double bass.
Wagner - All operas include tuba and double bass.
Orff - Carmina Burana. Tuba, contrabassoon. (Really effective too - BTW.)
I’m not certain but I think that the Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) has tuba, contrabassoon and double bass, the contra is the only thing that is out of my immediate mental grasp.
And then there’s a few oddballs that defy description.
Berlioz - Symphony Fantastique. Two tubas, a whole basket of bassoons but no contrabassoon. Interestingly, at least for us tubas, one tuba is playing quite high and the other just sort of wanders around on low notes. During the March to the Scaffold the tuba is higher than the bass trombone which is providing the bass line, it’s really breathtaking.
Now prepare for the nitpicking as the tuba had not yet been invented and Berlioz wrote for ophecleides, not tubas, but modern performance practice is my reference.
And another odd-ball: Messian “Et expecto resurrectionem” This piece includes two tuba parts, bass trombone, bassoon, contrabassoon and parts for six different gongs and three tam-tams. It is really interesting, and frustrating, taking forever to get anywhere.
Mahler’s 8th symphony opens with a fortissimo low Eb played by contrabassoon, organ pedals, and low-tuned contrabasses (the note is a half-step below the normal range of a contrabass; Mahler calls for the basses to be fitted with a C extension), plus bass clarinet, bassoons and cellos.
If you’ll allow me to toot my own horn, I once wrote a duet for Eb and Bb contrabass clarinets together.
A slightly related question: how do they get a deep-pitched thunderlike “roll” on a drum? The two examples that come to mind are the opening credits of Seven Samurai and the “George of the Jungle” theme.
BTW: found this YouTube clip of a guy absolutely ROCKING! on a contrabass sax: Really Big Blues - YouTube
The “George of the Jungle” theme sounds to me like it’s done on tympani - your bog-standard “kettledrum.” You either use different sizes to get the different pitches, or use a drum that has a pedal for changing the tension in the head.
“Seven Samurai” sounds like Taiko drums, or something similar.
Basically, use a big-ass drum.
So basically it’s just beating fast enough that the beats blur together? Especially on a drum that has a significant reverberation?