Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL August 2014 Female Bassist Issue | Page 107

he classical world, might be
he Rite of Spring, which legend

Esperanza: One my
favorite composers
of all time is
Shostakovich, and I
have this friend who’s
an amazing musician
who recently wrote
this bass concerto for
me which I’m totally
not prepared to be
able to play. So in
these next couple of
years I’m preparing
myself to get to that
level so I can actually
play the piece, and
one of things that I
was looking at was
the
Shostakovich
cello suites. When I
look at this music, it’s
so identifiably him. If
you look at the first
few bars you see right
And I thought of Shostakovich
ky and this subject because at
e state, for the Russian colonist
eing himself. So sometimes he
yle, and love it—in his head he
en the next week he would write
the state, and everybody would
my, and corrupt, and heard all

these things in it that were offensive, and he could literally be
imprisoned, taken away from his family with the possibility
of never being seen again. But through all of this, he couldn’t
help be himself. That’s something that we as artists fortunately
are immune to. We never have to worry about our lives being
in danger for our craft. So what do you have to be afraid of?
We’ve never had to experience that type of terror from our
art, and that’s something he had to deal with. I watched this
documentary, and it stated how he thought he had written themes
about something that he felt would be positive and patriotic,
followed by a very appealing speech he made when he became
a commissioner of the Arts for the state. And after writing this
piece, people still heard things in it that they considered to be
offensive, and he would have to be afraid of the consequences.
That’s some heavy shit that none of us ever experience. So I get
very curious when people remark musically about one thing or
another. I just thought of this when you brought up Stravinsky.
Jake: How do you feel about the statement that was made calling
you the new hope for Jazz?
Es W&