Michal Bylina: Four Fantasias for unaccompanied double bass

About the Composition The Four Fantasias for unaccompanied bass were created for the same purpose as my Preludes and Fugues, to fill a gap in the baroque era literature for the double bass. Since we do not have any pieces of this kind, nor did anyone write anything similar, I thought: why not to write music in this style. There are plenty of different and interesting techniques to use and many ways to imitate polyphony on the bass, and a set of Fantasias began to come to life. The modern performer may easily notice the scarcity of dynamic and articulation markings, yet this doesn’t mean we play the music without any musical nuances. Genuinely, it is the opposite. It is deliberate and is meant to give the performer greater freedom, as in past times, allowing us to and a variety of interpretations - hence the name Fantasia. Gran Fantasia No. 1 in D minor is one of the most complex works for solo double bass I have written to date and is one of my favourites too. It’s in two parts and eac