The Double Bass Ballade is dedicated to American contemporary bassist Robert Black and was completed on 19 June 1991. In one extended movement, lasting around eight minutes, the piece employs and explores a range of textural and timbral colours and effects throughout the entire range of the double bass. Contemporary, classical, jazz and improvisation idioms combine to create a magical work which demonstrates the many performance techniques available to the contemporary composer.

Teppo Hauta-aho writes in a modern but essentially lyrical idiom, combining musical and technical challenges in equal measure, producing a work which would be intriguing for audiences. The piece is episodic, maintaining variety and interest, and opens with a short theme, which the composer has used in a number of previous works, but which develops and extends into new vistas and musical landscapes. The open and vast picturesque landscapes of the composers native Finland is encapsulated in music which is open, expansive and atmospheric.