P. Kellach Waddle: Five for Hertl for double bass & piano

Table of Contents

1. Andante Triste

2. Legende

3. Elegie

4. Menuet

5. Pastorale

About the Suite

Five for Hertl is a suite of five colourful, inventive and atmospheric pieces for the intermediate bassist. Written in bass clef, there are musical and technical challenges in equal measure with the opportunity to demonstrate the sonorous qualities of the double bass in its middle register.

Written for David Heyes' project dedicated to paying tribute to the bass and piano pieces of František Hertl (1906-1973), these five pieces are intended for the early to intermediate bassist but are suitable for the advanced or professional artist as well.

1. Andante Triste is moody and dark as it wanders through many ultra-chromatic harmonies before a final loud bit of anguish descends into a quiet. Eb minor.

2. Legenda is somewhat flashy and intensely dramatic, featuring an exciting 16th note motive involving open strings that is rife with a compelling sense of propulsion without any undue technical demand.

3. The aching fall of an augmented 5th underpins the majority of the material for Elegie -- another mournful selection that gets more intense in its centre section before an augmentation of the pervasive motive ends the piece in quiet lament.

4 & 5. A moderate but lively Menuet comprises the fourth movement and finally, a standard Bacarolle-ish 6/8 Pastorale movement moves with dancing joy until a triumphant and glorious end in Bb Major. [Programme notes by the composer]

2023 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Czech bassist-composer-conductor František Hertl (1906-1973). Hertl composed a number of impressive works for double bass including a series of 30 Miniatures for double bass and piano, aimed at conservatoire level bassists, which are little known today. Each is accessible and engaging, combining musical and technical skills in tandem, with supportive accompaniments which add character and distinction.

Hertl Remembered

Hertl Remembered is a project creating a new series of 30 Miniatures in memory of František Hertl. The composers writing for Hertl Remembered are David Heyes (UK), Eric Funk (USA), Michael Montgomery (USA), Peter Byrom-Smith (UK), P. Kellach Waddle (USA), John Alexander (UK), Christopher Field (UK) & Lourdes C. Montgomery (Cuba/USA).

About the Composer

P. Kellach Waddle enjoys an active career as a composer, orchestral and chamber music bassist, solo bassist, conductor, writer, and concert curator. His prolific output as a composer now numbers over 760 includes pieces for every standard orchestral instrument except timpani.

His output features hundreds of solo and chamber works as well as concertos and works for large orchestra and chorus, and he is especially known for his large and ongoing contribution to the repertoire of his own instrument, the double bass, as well as continuing to write a significant amount of double reed music and saxophone music

Waddle’s music has been heard in 39 states in the USA, in dozens of foreign countries, also featured more than 20 times on NPR and in venues from Carnegie Hall to the White House. His many accolades as a composer include an Austin Critics’ Table award for outstanding new composition of the year, three citations as possible finalist for The Pulitzer Prize, four nominations as State of Texas Musician of the Year, and ten nominations for The American Prize, nine as a semi-finalist and one as a finalist.

P. Kellach Waddle has held many festival and professional orchestra positions throughout, including his current position as a tenured member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra (Texas), which he won in 1992.

As a soloist he has been a featured recitalist at many International Society of Bassists conventions where he has been hailed as “…one of the most thrillingly creative bass soloists in the world” and “…Waddle may be a bass virtuoso instead of being a pianist… yet still with all of these luxurious harmonies and melodies… PKW may very well be our American Rachmaninoff…”

Waddle’s diverse career includes his prolific work as a writer. He was a full-time entertainment journalist for 16 years, is an industry renowned TV historian having published over 3000 articles, and is also an award winning poet. He worked in private casinos as a licensed table games dealer and roulette croupier and holds seven degrees (2 Bachelor's, 3 Minors, and 2 Master's) from Cincinnati Conservatory, Rice University, and The University of Texas at Austin.