Sentimental Work: Christine Hoock

Adolf Mišek’s Second Double Bass Sonata is full of dialogue, vitality, emotion and great optimism. I feel like it’s my constant companion, because if I’m not practising it myself, I’m working on it with my students. It’s a perfect piece for them to learn: there aren’t many Romantic sonatas written for the bass, and this one contains so many different styles and techniques, it’s really inspiring to jump into and learn.

I first came across it when I was studying with Günter Klaus at the Frankfurt Music Academy. At the time, he was working on a new edition of the piece, which might be why we all studied it in class. There were no recordings of the piece back then, and it’s still not as well known as it should be. I was working from a very old score that had the word Übungsonate (‘exercise sonata’) written at the top. I don’t know why, because it makes the piece sound like an etude rather than the virtuosic masterpiece it is! I think that might be one reason why it was neglected for so long…