Recordings of solo double bass are few and far between, but this release by Erling Sunnarvik of Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra is just that --- an album featuring the double bass as solo instrument. Joining Sunnarvik on the recording are mezzo-soprano Annika Skoglund and pianist Nils Lundström, together with string players from the Philharmonic. The works presented here span from Baroque to the twentieth century. The compositions by Eccles, Glinka, and Tchaikovsky highlight the uncommon collaboration of bass and piano. And it is a rare thing to hear the bass as lead instrument in a string quartet and sextet, as we do in the works of Hoffmeister and Bloch. Arne Helland’s “Excursion for Double Bass and Piano” was written especially for Sunnarvik, and it was the composer’s wish before he died that the work be recorded on an album. Sunnarvik has dedicated the album to Helland (1953-2002) and to his teacher and friend, double bassist and music professor Knut Guettler (1943-2013).Erling Sunnarvik has been double bassist in the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1987, and, prior to that, in the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied with Knut Guettler in Oslo and Gary Karr in the USA. Sunnarvik gave his solo concert debut in Oslo in 1989. As soloist he has performed on Norwegian Radio (NRK), and he has toured and given concerts with Knut Albrigt Andersen, Geir Botnen, and Hilde Ringlund, among