Reflections, is a collection of four meditative, colourful and atmospheric pieces for double bass with new guitar accompaniments by Roy Hagen. Originally for unaccompanied double…
Reflections, is a collection of four meditative, colourful and atmospheric pieces for double bass with new guitar accompaniments by Roy Hagen. Originally for unaccompanied double bass, each explores a wealth of tone colours and timbres across the middle register of the instrument and are ideal for the intermediate bassist.
“When Roy Hagen suggested that he would like to create guitar accompaniments to some of my solo pieces I was delighted. Although each piece works beautifully for unaccompanied double bass, Roy has created engaging and evocative accompaniments which generate new perspectives and musical vistas which will hopefully endear the pieces to new musicians and audiences.” [David Heyes]
The edition includes two scores, one with chord symbols – one without, and a solo double bass part.
Meditation
Meditation is a stand-alone work or can be played after ‘Seven Last Words from the Cross’ and was composed in February 2021. The mood is generally slow and contemplative, although it builds to a climax towards the end, rising into a much higher register, with a series of double stops to keep the work grounded. Meditation was composed over two days and neither the notes or rhythms are complex or advanced but I wanted the piece to have a relaxed and simple feel, working with the great sound of the solo bass in different registers.
On the Wings of an Angel
‘May you travel through life on the wings of an angel’ was the inspiration for this short piece, dedicated to Tony Osborne (1947-2018), which I completed on 19 February 2020. My aim was to write a piece which didn’t outstay its welcome and was an amalgam of a lyrical song and a lament for my friend. The opening three notes act as a unifying motif throughout and it employs a four octave range, albeit primarily in the lower two octaves of the instrument.
There should always be a strong narrative and feeling of line, emphasising the lyrical and sonorous qualities of the double bass, rising in intensity to the highest register, and ending with a pizzicato episode before slowly dying away into silence.
Songlines
“…the labyrinth of invisible pathways which meander all over Australia are known to Europeans as ‘Dreaming-tracks’ or ‘Songlines’; to the Aboriginals as the ‘Footprints of the Ancestors’ of the ‘Way of the Law’. Aboriginal Creation myths tell of the legendary totemic beings who wandered over the continent in the Dreamtime, singing out the name of everything that crossed their path – birds, animals, plants, rocks, waterholes – and so singing the world into existence.” [Bruce Chatwin: The Songlines (1987)].
Songlines was composed for the 80th birthdays of my friends Teppo Hauta-aho and Frank Proto and gradually developed into a piece which seemed to be both timeless and lyrical. I have long been fascinated by the Dreamtime and Songlines of the Indigenous Australians and the idea of creating a piece which combined mystery alongside the song-like qualities of the solo double bass appealed. Each phrase is a new songline or pathway with musical ideas which are simple and slow, as if following an unwritten map but always with a specific destination in mind.
