Program Note

Three Nocturnes (2022) is a haunting, virtuosic double bass solo in three movements. Adams writes about it: “Commissioned by the Moab Music Festival, Three Nocturnes is dedicated to my longtime friend Robert Black, who gave the premiere performance outdoors, amid red rock canyons. The dark twin of [my] Three High Places . . . [which is] composed entirely on the harmonic series, Three Nocturnes is grounded entirely in the subharmonic series.” Three
Nocturnes appeared on Robert Black’s album Darkness and Scattered Light (Cold Blue Music), a Grammy-nominated recording that was on Alex Ross’s The New Yorker list of “Notable Classical Recordings of 2023.”