Rodrigo Mata: SOUNDSCAPES for double bass quartet

About the Composition

This work is a small suite with three short movements related to a majestic nature scene (The Sky, the Sea, and the Earth). The first one is a slow and quiet choral about the sky as if we were looking deeply into it. 

The second movement is related to the sea and is an "andante con anima" tempo. It has a continuous pizzicato line to show the harmony, imitating the waves coming and going, and a bowed melody on the first bass.

Finally, the third movement is related to the earth and starts with percussive effects on different parts of the bass, also granular sound and scratch with the bow, imitating the sound of the earth crunching, then the melodic theme is based on a Mexican rhythm and harmony progression from the "huapango." 

It is a fairly accessible piece for beginner and intermediate bassists.

Commissioned

Work Commissioned by David Heyes and Co-commissioned by: Chris Clark, Elizabeth Harré, Susan Hagen, Martin Penning, Lynn Hannings, Chris Kosky, Malachy O´Neill, Jacob Head, David Higginbottom, Dave Whitla, Rod Patterson, May Halyburton, Veronica Reinhardt, Nicola Malagugini, Luciano Golia, Gabriele Ragghianti, Andrew Kohn, Caz Atthill, Sergio Barbosa, Dominic Dudley, Alison McNaught & John Kennedy.

About the Composer

Bassist and composer born in 1985 in Guanajuato, Mexico, he graduated in double bass at the University of Guanajuato. Concurrently, he studied with Valeria Thierry (Mexico) in Mexico City and, in 2010, completed an academic stay at Mount Royal University in the city of Calgary, Canada, with Sheila Garrett (Canada), John Hyde (Canada) and Rubim de Toledo (Brazil). From 2019 to 2021, he studied for a Master's Degree in Music Performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Dan Styffe (Sweden) and Håkon Thelin (Norway). He has received master classes from renowned musicians such as Stefano Scodanibbio (Italy), Bertram Turetzky (United States), Frank Proto (United States), Markus Stockhausen (Germany), Dominic Seldis (United Kingdom), Thierry Barbe (France), Jeff Bradetich (United States), among others.

As a soloist, he has premiered works by contemporary composers in Mexico, the United States, and Norway. He has performed with Calgary Youth Orchestra in Canada, Orquesta de Cámara de Leon, the Norwegian Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta, Ensemble 3030, and the Bergen Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He is currently a bassist in Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato, as well as several chamber music and jazz projects. He is conductor and founder of the double bass ensemble "Mushamukas," with which he has premiered works by avant-garde composers and with which, in 2022, he was a beneficiary of FONCA's Programa de Fomento a Proyectos y Coinversiones Culturales. In 2021 he was a beneficiary of Programa de Estímulos a la Creación y Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA) as a creator with trajectory.

As a composer, he has won first prize in the 2020 and 2022 ISB (International Society of Bassist) Composition Contest, first prize in the 2021 FICI (Festival Internacional de Contrabajo Infantil) Composition Contest, and has been the resident composer of the Latin Orchestra of Europe in 2021, his works have been performed in Norway, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Germany, Venezuela, Peru, and the United States.

Both as a performer, as a composer, and as a director, he has participated in numerous international events such as the International Cervantino Festival, the Fjord Classics Festival, the International Festival of Contemporary Art, the Callejón del Ruido International Festival, the International Jazz Festival in Irapuato, the Convention of the International Society of Bassists and the Baja California Latin American Double Bajos Festival, to name a few, and has made album recordings with the Tagma Records, Quindecim Recordings and Evidence Classics record labels.

Additionally, he has served as a teacher in the Community Orchestras of the Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical, Trinitate Philharmonia, and continues as a double bass professor at the University of Guanajuato. 

Connect with Rodrigo on his website.