David Dalle
Thursday August 7th, 2025 with David Dalle
John Luther Adams and a solo bass; darkness and joy.

The first set today will be bookended by two pieces for solo double bass by John Luther Adams. The first, "Three High Places", was composed in 2007 for solo violin, but it has been played by violists and cellists, and American double bassist Robert Black was the first to perform it on double bass. "Three High Places" is comprised of three short movements, with the only sounds being produced by open strings and harmonics from the overtone series. The bassist's fingers never touch the strings. The resulting sounds are very pure, a deep communion with the natural world. The second work, which closes this set, is "Three Nocturnes", composed in 2022 for double bass. It was dedicated to Robert Black who premiered it that year. Adams calls the "Three Nocturnes" the dark twin of "Three High Places". Whereas the latter is based on the harmonics of open strings, "Three Nocturnes" is based entirely on the subharmonic series, making it much darker, with crunchier and more complex intervals. Robert Black recorded these works in March of 2023, just a few months before he died. I am cognizant that today's show falls between the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (August 6th) and Nagasaki (August 9th). So these deep and dark starting and ending points will encapsulate music which grapple with this.