1. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do [Luke 23:24] –…
Seven Last Words from the Cross is dedicated to Nicholas Tall
- 1. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do [Luke 23:24] – dedicated to Tom Mahoney (UK)
- 2. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise [Luke 23:43] – dedicated to Elsen Price (Australia)
- 3. Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother [John 19:26-27] – dedicated to Marco Antonio Quiñones Martinez (Mexico)
- 4. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? [Matthew 27:46/Mark 15:34] – dedicated to Diego Zecharies (Uruguay/Spain)
- 5. I thirst [John 19:28] – dedicated to Eloine Vatteville (France)
- 6. It is finished [John 19:30] – dedicated to David Whitla (Canada/Eire)
- 7. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit [Luke 23:46] – dedicated to Daniel Chiva Sanz (Spain)
“This work was so moving. David Heyes has created a piece of beauty for our bass community.” [Gaelen McCormick]
“I’ve been working through these. Such beautiful music, David. Congratulations!” [Adam Booker, Appalachian State University, USA]
“People are STILL talking about it and I played it on Wednesday (and there have been multiple recitals every day here). They were brought to tears. Loved loved loved it. (As do I)… I am playing it again this year. It’s GORGEOUS!!!” [Susan Hagen/Boston Pops]
“What a beautiful piece. It is reverent, moving, haunting, and eloquent” [Gina Hagen Kolenda]
“By the way: when I was in North Carolina with Adam I heard his last recording featuring your piece for solo bass and wanted to say I really love it!!!” [Andres Martin] 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.
