David Heyes: Seven Last Words from the Cross for unaccompanied double bass

About the Composition The commission to write 'Seven Last Words from the Cross' came about during a conversation in March 2016. I liked the idea of creating a work for unaccompanied double bass on this theme and Nick Tall kindly commissioned the work for a performance at his church at Easter 2018. 'Seven Last Words from the Cross' is dedicated to Nick Tall. As bassists we know that the double bass can be a very colourful, evocative and descriptive instrument, able to portray many moods and emotions, which I wanted to demonstrate to new audiences. I aimed to create a seven movement work which employed a range of performance techniques, alongside creating atmospheric mini soundscapes, with movements which could be performed individually or collectively. Each is influenced by its title and a generally low tessitura is used, although the higher solo register is also employed in some to demonstrate the many and varied facets of the solo double bass. Over the past four years I have composed