David Heyes: Celebrations Book 3 for unaccompanied double bass

About the Collection

Celebrations Book 3 brings together sixteen exciting, evocative and inventive works for unaccompanied double bass by David Heyes. Composed between 2016 and 2022, each piece was composed for a specific bassist, commemoration, or anniversary, and all are aimed at the intermediate bassist.

David Heyes exploits and explores a wealth of colors and timbres in each piece, always within a lyrical framework, creating music that offers musical and technical challenges in equal measure. His music is played by bassists of all ages and abilities with performances in 27 countries across five continents.

Reviews

"Today's double bassists are indebted to composers who wrote for this forefather of the double bass. Double bassists of today are indebted to David Heyes for his extensive publishing work, compositions, and commissioning of works for the double bass."

[David B. Teague]

"Double bassist and composer David Heyes(UK) is keeping the tradition alive, teaching a

new generation and composing works that build upon a diverse repertoire for our beloved

instrument..." [Stafford James, American bassist, composer, educator]

Table of Contents

1. Hymnus: In Memoriam Lev Rakov

Composed in January 2020 in memory of double bassist Lev Rakov (1926-2019) who taught at
Moscow Conservatoire for many years

2. This We Know

Dedicated to legendary American bassist Bert Turetzky for his 85th birthday year in 2018

3. Solitude

Composed in 2021 as a gift for the amazing contemporary solo bassist Joëlle Leandre

4. Mr Field - His Humour

Composed in 2019 as an 80th birthday gift for English composer-conductor Christopher Field

5. The Joy of Understanding

Composed in 2019 as part of Da Vinci 500 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1. La belle Ferronière 2. La Gioconda (Mona Lisa) 3. The Last Supper)

6. Syrinx

Composed in 2018 as part of the ‘Syrinx Project’ to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death

of Claude Debussy

7. Self-Portrait I

Composed for ‘Self-Portrait 2021’ and completed in December 2020

8. Self-Portrait II

Composed in February 2022 as part of an ongoing series of writing a self-portrait at the beginning of
each year.

9. On the Wings of an Angel

Composed in memory of the English bassist-composer Tony Osborne (1947-2019) and as part of ‘A Tribute to Tony’

10. We are such stuff As dreams are made on

Composed in 2016 as a birthday present for the English composer John Alexander (b.1942) who
celebrated his 75th birthday the following year

11. Songlines

Composed in 2020 for ‘Teppo & Frank @ 80’ as a birthday tribute to bass legends Teppo Hauta-aho
and Frank Proto who both celebrated their 80th birthday in 2021

12. Hold On - a Prayer-Song for Bridget

Composed in memory of Bridget Green (1959-2016), a friend of the composer

13. A Gigue for Bernard Salles

Composed in 2019 as a 65th birthday present for the French bassist-composer-conductor Bernard
Salles.

14. A Postcard for Teppo

Composed in 2022 as a sincere and heartfelt tribute to the composer’s great friend Teppo Hauta-aho
(1941-2019) who died in November 2021.

15. Incantations

Composed in 2018 for Thea Sayer, one of the composer’s favorite double bass students who is
now a professional bassist in London

16. Portrait for a Friend

Composed for ‘Self-Portrait 2021’ and written on behalf of Teppo Hauta-aho who suggested that
David Heyes should write the piece on his behalf.

About the Composer

David Heyes (b.1960) studied double bass with Laurence Gray and Bronwen Naish, later at the Royal College of Music in London. He completed his post-graduate studies in Prague with František Pošta (Principal Bass, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). He has given recitals and masterclasses in 20 countries over the past few years and has been a juror at a number of international competitions three times as chairman.

David's collaborative work gained him a prestigious award from the David Walter Charitable Trust of New York for his pioneering activities as a soloist, teacher, publisher, and commissioner of new music for double bass and he works with composers throughout the world to expand the double bass repertoire by commissioning new music and by rediscovering forgotten ones. Since 1983 more than 700 works have been written for him, music from one to twenty basses and from beginner to virtuoso, and he has premiered ten contemporary concertos with orchestra.

David began to compose in 2013 and has had music performed and recorded in 27 countries across five continents. He is a D'Addario Performing Artist and has recently commissioned a solo double bass from British master-luthier Martin Penning.