‘Elegy-Fantasy in Memory of David Walter’ is in one extended movement, lasting around ten minutes, and offers both musical and technical challenges to the advanced and enterprising bass quartet. The notes DAE, taken from David Walter’s name, are a recurring feature throughout and there are clearly defined sections which add contrast and interest to this amazing work of breadth and imagination.

The composer creates an exciting and exotic sound world, sometimes bleak and spare and at other time bright and expansive. The ever-changing moods and styles offer challenges aplenty and here is a work which requires far more than technical accomplishment. Teppo Hauta-aho employs a range of playing techniques, always within a lyrical and cantabile framework, to add variety and colour.

Bass 1 and 2 play in treble clef for much of the time, employing harmonics to add height and clarity, with bass 3 and 4 grounding the work with a strong foundation in the lower registers. Teppo Hauta-aho is a past master at writing evocative and atmospheric music for massed double basses and this is a case in point. Each bassist is able to explore and investigate the tonal and timbral colours available to the modern double bass, demonstrating the different facets and ensemble possibilities.

‘Elegy-Fantasy in Memory of David Walter’ is a work of enormous scope and breadth and offers much to performers and audiences alike. It was recorded on 1 July 2017 in Oslo for Prima Facie Records by Dan Styffe, David Heyes, Kenneth Ryland and Karol Ciesluk.