Doblinger Musikverlag

Composer: Bohdana Frolyak
Duration: 8'

Contrabass Dance was commissioned in 2013 by Ukrainian-Swiss contrabassist Ruslan Lutsyk and is dedicated to him.
To me, the double bass has always been a somewhat mysterious, even magical, instrument. At first it may seem a little bit unwieldy, but it fascinates with its timbre. Its capability of achieving a deep, dense and somewhat distant timbre in its low register and a warmer timbre in the middle and upper registers; the whimsical sonority of rapid fragments and the instrument's magnificent lyrical qualities - these properties were the inspiration for writing exactly such a piece for this instrument. A piece where the double bass is a living being with his own character, mood changes and a desire to "dance" different "dances" - from fast and rhythmical with irregular, syncopated pulsations to slow ones that allude to baroque music with a certain meditative quality and a delicacy that can be found in music of that time.
Because this piece was written for the "Golden Bass" First International Double-Bass Competition in Ukraine it contains fragments of music that showcase the performer's technical skills as well as their ability to feel the unity of the composition and to convey its musical emotion. At the same time it gives the performer a degree of freedom of interpretation, almost as if the piece contained some "secret" that each performer could uncover in their own way.
(Bohdana Frolyak)