About the creation

If I wished to compose music inspired by the biblical stories of Cain and Abel, Enoch and Methuselah, of Lamech and his two wives Ada and Zilla – Which instrument would I choose? – I would most probably choose the double bass. But the opposite has happened: when the bass player Ron Merhavi asked me to compose something for his instrument, I was instantly reminded of the biblical stories about our primeval forefathers, stories I remember from my early childhood.

The double bass is a potbellied instrument, the biggest and fattest of all the string instruments. But he is different from all his stringed brethren: he cannot pour forth such heart-rending tunes as can the violin. He could not and would not emulate the warm, lovely sound of the cello. He is somewhat akin to the viola in his somber sound. But he is the first and foremost of all string instruments in his deepest sounds and in the huge range between these and between his highest sounds.

The double bass lends depth and volume to the orchestral sound. Playing alone his sound is grey, grey with all its hues and shades. This greyness inspires a sense of remoteness in space and in time. Remoteness and a sense of mystery. This is why I entrusted the double bass with telling the ancient stories of Genesis, with "painting" in sounds those Primeval Images.

I am fully aware of the fact that music as such is incapable of telling stories or painting pictures. So, how does a story turn into sounds? –This is a secret hidden far beyond my understanding. I can only guess that this alchemy happens somehow somewhere inside the labyrinth of grey substance beneath my own skull.