Teppo Hauta-aho: Waltz Poem Basso for 2 Double Basses

About the Composition

Waltz Poem Basso was composed in 2014 and is dedicated to David Heyes and Ben Groenevelt, in memory of František Pošta (1919-1991) who was Principal Bass of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for more than 40 years and would have celebrated his 95th birthday in 2014. Both Teppo Hauta-aho and David Heyes studied in Prague with Prof. Pošta, Teppo in the 1960s and David in the 1980s.

Waltz Poem Basso is a work of great quality, breadth and imagination, contrasting a wealth of playing techniques and timbres available to the modern double bass duo, but always within a lyrical and accessible idiom. In one extended movement, this is a piece which offers much to players and audiences alike and is a worthy addition to the duo repertoire. The composer employs different styles and idioms, throughout the entire range of the double bass, exploring a colorful, inventive and atmospheric palette of colors which are unique to the double bass.

This digital edition includes a score and two parts.

Waltz Poem Basso was premiered by David Heyes and Ben Groenevelt at Wells & Mendip Museum (Somerset, UK) on 28 September 2014.

About the Composer

Teppo Hauta-aho was born in 1941 and studied double bass with Orvo Hyle and Oiva Nummelin in Finland, and František Pošta in Prague. He played with the Helsinki Philharmonic between 1965 and 1972, and the Finnish Opera Orchestra from 1975 to 2000. Teppo Hauta-aho was an active recitalist, both classical and jazz, gave more than 300 recitals with his duo partner, Carita Holmström, and was at the cutting edge of modern improvisation - performing with leading improvisers throughout the world, for many years.

Finnish composer Harry Wessman writes: "As a composer, Teppo Hauta-aho has always been his own teacher, basing his technical knowledge on his wide practical musicianship as an orchestral player, chamber and jazz musician. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that he was the jazz bassist most in demand in Finland in the 1970s, and a few of his works are pure jazz compositions. But the compositional techniques and musical means used in the majority of his works originate in an unusual openness for any devices. Along with modern techniques, his source of inspiration includes all the previous stylistic periods in European music, impulses from Oriental music and, of course, jazz. His own instrument, the double bass, has profited especially from his rich inventiveness in finding new means to conjure forth unusual sounds from the instrument, and in applying them in an artistically meaningful and striking way."

Teppo Hauta-aho's music has been performed extensively in Finland and abroad, notably in America, Britain, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Soviet Union, Australia and Switzerland. He died in Helsinki on 27 November 2021.