3a fantasia: Homenatge a Bottesini

The greatest homage paid by double-bass player and composer, Pere Valls (1869-1935), to Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889) has been to take over teaching at the Italian maestro’s double-bass school and promote his technique. Valls was taught by José Roveda, a direct disciple of Bottesini, and then he passed on to his students Bottesini’s technique and the Bottesinian way of understanding how to play the double bass. A large part of Pere Valls’ works are therefore greatly indebted to Bottesini’s legacy, but this piece we have in our hands today is dedicated to him directly in homage. It is a show piece which combines virtuosistic fragments with soaring lyrical passages (remember that Bottesini wrote pieces for the double bass that are not strictly virtuoso, but which seek out and find the instrument’s maximum expressiveness, as is the case with the famous Elegy). A waltz theme emerges after the introduction, and the central section is structured around three variations on a theme.

David Puertas