P. Kellach Waddle: Were You Listening for the Loneliness in the Vampire's Heartbeat? - Impression for 2 double basses

About the Composition

The music of P. Kellach Waddle is always colourful and engaging, with an interesting blend of technical and musical challenges in equal measure. This one-movement duet remains in bass clef, with bass 2 playing pizzicato throughout, alongside opportunities to explore and develop the lyrical and sonorous qualities of the double bass contrasting a vibrant rhythmic momentum which maintains interest and fascination until the last notes of the piece.

Were You Listening for the Loneliness in the Vampire’s Heartbeat? was commissioned by David Heyes after the composer had won Recital Music’s 2023 Composition Competition.

The edition includes a score and two parts. 

Notes

“Suitable for both the advanced bassist or accomplished intermediate players, this duet exemplifies the "heartbeat" in the title with bass 2 only being pizzicato throughout. Said "heartbeat" is most often outlining dark minor harmonies or expressive dissonances. The top line is a set of expressively morose melodic motives indeed meant to exemplify the "loneliness" of the title.

At times the "heartbeat" stays in steady eight (quaver) notes, at times the rhythmic activity in bass 2 varies to increase the expressive tension and progression of the phrases. The piece continues thusly to a long fake-fadeout at the end before a loud and stark D minor-esque harmony with a missing third concludes the work in dramatic fashion.”

Programme note by P. Kellach Waddle

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.