Here the solo double bass music represents ‘salon’ music and is a celebration of the importance of melody to Russian solo double bass playing. To the intense expression of melancholy and tragedy heard in the music of both Glinka and Shostakovich is added an extrovert and romantic approach - a touch of Italian opera flowers within this choice of solo Russian double bass pieces. The repertoire spans a historical period of enormous political changes and not least compositions from a period of extreme uncertainty when artists such as Rachmaninov, Glière, and Koussevitzky lived. Such was the outlook of the time that their direct contemporary and philosopher Beryaev wrote “Never before were Russians so acutely aware of the illimitable unknown surrounding human life” “of the mystery and the terrifying abyss with which man is faced” (Dream and Reality). Russians lived in “a state of expectancy, - a revelation as well as a revolution”.