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David Heyes

David Heyes - Serenity: a Meditation for Sara for double bass quartet

David Heyes - Serenity: a Meditation for Sara for double bass quartet

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 About the Composition

God, grant me the strength 

of eagle wings, 

the faith and courage 

to fly to new heights, 

and the wisdom 

to rely on His spirit to carry me there. 

[Native American Prayer for Serenity] 

The music is slow moving initially, setting the mood of the piece, with a middle section which has more direction and momentum primarily pushed along by the repeated motif from basses 3 and 4. It returns to the more solemn style towards the end with a sustained two-part chord which contrasts the cadenza-like music for basses 3 and 4 which begins low and quickly moves into the higher register, played in harmonics and ending gently and hopefully with a feeling or resolution. 

The Native American prayer was the starting point for Serenity, originally written for an unusual scoring of viola and 2 double basses and subsequently rescored for double bass trio and premiered at the Purcell School (Bushey, Hertfordshire UK) on Sunday 24 July 2016 by Eloise Riddell, Jacob Robinson and David Heyes, receiving its Czech premiere on Wednesday 21 September 2016 at the Academy of Music in Prague by Joe Prindl, Danijel Radanovič and David Heyes. 

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, and 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 29 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. 

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