Lourdes Montgomery: Heroes Suite for double bass & piano

About the Composition

Heroes Suite is a collection of five colourful and inventive pieces for the intermediate bassist. Rhythmically charged and immediately accessible, each piece offers musical and technical challenges in equal measure, ideal for any audience or occasion.

Lourdes C. Montgomery writes: "Heroes Suite, composed during the late summer of 2017 in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, is a collection of five short pieces for double bass and piano, each of which was inspired by and named after an individual who in some way has touched my life.

1. GAMER
The first, ‘Gamer’, is an attempt to capture my impressions of the ambient sonorities which so often fill our home when my son Michael is engaged in video gaming. From the onset a driving “con fuoco” tempo evokes feelings of excitement and unrest,

feelings augmented by the somewhat syncopated 6/8 meter and G minor setting. As we encounter this music we might imagine some worthy warrior setting off on an adventure, hoping to rid his realm of the forces of evil that threaten it.

2. ELEGY FOR SENEN
There is perhaps no more appropriate time to consider the ways in which one is touched by others than that moment in which we lose a family member. ‘Elegy for Senen’, written the day following the passing of our son-in-law’s grandfather, is a reflection of my many all too brief encounters with this gentleman through the years, and my sense of loss at his passing. The listener is presented with passages of mournfulness, anger, and finally peaceful acceptance and consolation in consideration of his final repose.

3. FREDERIC
Any individual whose passion is music and instrument of choice is piano will almost certainly have found Chopin to be a tremendous inspiration in their life - I certainly did. ‘Frederic’ is my humble tribute to this great composer and the legacy left to us by him. In it, I have intertwined new music with the brilliant chord progression of his Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4.

4. BABE
‘Babe’, my pet name for my husband, is a retrospective of several decades of my life with him condensed into one brief musical snapshot. The gentle lyrical opening is set in the key of D major. A second section that follows features a subtle shift in tonality marked by somewhat increased chromaticism and rhythmic agitation before the piece concludes with a reiteration of the more innocent opening theme.

5. PAPI
In this last movement my Cuban heritage is on display: ‘Papi’ is the name I give my father, Jesus Cardenas. It is used in Cubanese in much the same loving way “daddy” would be used by children raised in America. The allegro opening of the piece is both whimsical and playful, and this describes my father’s nature to the tea! The second cantabile section is more lyrical in nature and meant to characterize his many moments of napping during the day. As the movement closes, the return of the main theme finds him rejuvenated after his rest and once again his merry self.

About the Composer

Born in Havana, Cuba, Lourdes C. Montgomery moved to the United States at age five. She studied jazz piano at Miami-Dade Community College with Sanford Gold and, at the University of Miami, music composition with Dr. Dennis Kam as well as classical piano with Dr. Rosalina Sackstein. Many of Lourdes' sacred and liturgical compositions are published by Oregon Catholic Press, who also produced her CD entitled "De La Cruz a la Gloria", and World Library Publications.

In 2008, Lourdes was honored to have her song Bienaventurados ("The Beatitudes") was performed at the mass of Pope Benedict XVI that was held at the National Stadium in Washington, D.C., and televised nationally. In 2005 Lourdes became music director at St. Vincent de Paul Church in the Ozark Mountains of NW Arkansas, where she now lives with her double bassist husband Michael Montgomery.