David Heyes: Slavonic Dance No. 2: Dumka for double bass quartet

About the Quartet Slavonic Dance No.2: Dumka remains in bass clef and is aimed at the progressing young bass quartet, also playable by larger forces. The music is generally slow moving and elegant, emphasising the lyrical and sonorous qualities of the double bass. Each part remaining in its own register, with bass 4 only playing in 1st position, and the melodic material is shared between the four players. The word Dumka, a term taken from the Ukrainian language and also found in many Slavic languages, means ‘thought’ and is a type of Slavic folk-ballad, alternately elegiac and more effervescent, and was a form frequently used by Antonín Dvořák. Slavonic Dance No.2: Dumka was completed on 17 November 2023 and is also available in a version for more advanced bassists. Slavonic Dance No.2: Dumka is dedicated to Joanna Krempeć-Kaczor in Poland. About the Composer David Heyes studied double bass with Laurence Gray and Bronwen Naish, later at the Royal College of Music in London, and complet