Valse-Caprice is for 2 double basses and piano and is a lyrical, effective and tonal work for the intermediate bass duo. Composed in 2006 and premiered at Wells Cathedral School, there are few technical challenges for either player and a neat and supportive piano accompaniment complements the lyrical and flowing solo lines.

Bass 1 ventures into thumb position, otherwise it remains in bass clef throughout, and is both player and audience friendly.

Humphrey Clucas is best known for his choral music, but in recent years has composed a number of excellent works for double bass. He writes in a tonal and direct style and he has been a featured composer at Bass-Fest and Wells Cathedral School in recent years.

Performance Level: 6;7

Humphrey Clucas was born in 1941 and read English at King's College, Cambridge, where he was also a Choral Scholar. Having taught English for twenty-seven years he subsequently became a Lay Vicar at Westminster Abbey but is now retired.

As a composer he is self taught, and although he is well-known for a set of Anglican Responses written as an undergraduate, almost all his serious music has been written over the last twenty-five years. He has a growing reputation as a choral composer and has produced an impressive and steady stream of choral works, both sacred and secular, alongside much instrumental music. He has written works for Cathedrals in Chichester, Guildford, Salisbury and Winchester, as well as for King's College, Cambridge, Southwell Minster and Westminster Abbey.