Sounds of Spain 3 is an exciting series of evocative and vibrant works for unaccompanied double bass. An international flavour encapsulates jazzy and popular styles in effervescent music which is always engaging and invigorating, featuring recent commissions by bassists in Romania, Norway and Great Britain.
Ideal for the intermediate-advanced bassist.
1. Fantasy on a Romanian Folk Song
Fantasy on a Romanian Folk Song is virtuoso work for unaccompanied double bass, commissioned by the Romanian virtuoso Petru Iuga, and was premiered at Galicia Graves Double Bass Festival and Competition on 10 March, 2018 in Culleredo, Spain. The work is a fantasy or theme and variations on a very popular Romanian song titled Ciuleandra. It starts directly with variations and in the middle the audience will can recognise the folk song. I wrote the piece is a virtuoso work and use the entire range of the double bass, including double stops where the melody is changing from the low to the high register. [Simón García]
2. The Transience of Life [In Memoriam František Pošta]
Unfortunately, I did not meet František Pošta but friends have told me about him and I think he was one of those people who seem that they will never leave us. When this happens it´s inevitable to reflect about life and think about the transience of life. We feel different emotions – sometimes we feel sadness or longing become helplessness or anger, or a mixture of all these feelings. In this piece I try to convey this. The piece begins with an introduction “Slow with fantasy” where the player can show their ability to sing; it continues with an allegro where a lot of mixed feelings are expressed. The thematic material throughout the piece is based on three notes – E- F-E. [Simón García]
The Transience of Life was premiered by David Heyes on Saturday 8 March 2014 at St Michael the Archangel, Teignmouth (UK). It received its Czech premiere at Prague Conservatoire on 6 April 2014 by David Heyes and its Dutch premiere at Shouwberg Almere on 26 August 2014 by Dan Styffe.
3. Three Dances
Three Dances was commissioned by Dan Styffe to whom it is dedicated. He asked me to write a new work for solo double bass and I started to work on a Waltz, which pointed the way for me to write a group of pieces for him. Three Dances is in three contrasting movements and lasts about 8 minutes.
‘Waltz’ begins with a gentle melody, played pizzicato, which gradually moves towards a “grotesque” feel. The music moves between lyricism and grotesque in a waltz which would be difficult for dancers because of the changing 3/4 and 2/4 bars scheme, alongside hemiolas. There are opportunities to display great virtuosity.
The second dance, ‘Song of the Old Land’, is full of lyricism where the bass sings an endearing lullaby. I looked for inspiration in the idea of old songs of the Nordic peoples and wrote in a way that it very vocal, but without equable measure.

‘Infernal Dance’ is a fast movement brimming with great virtuosic passages where I have worked with new ideas and developed some ideas from Dance No. 2. This is a powerful dance with great rhythmic momentum and technical challenges for the performer. I would define the language as Soul of Rock music with some Stravinskian colours. The result is three very contrasting dances where I aimed to explore different aspects of the double bass. [Simón García]
Three Dances was premiered in Almere, Netherlands by Dan Styffe on 27 August 2014 at BASS2014.