Fantasy

for Double Bass and Piano

by Allan J. Segall

The Fantasy for Double Bass and Piano was written for Cameron as a memorium to Segall's Russian-born maternal grandfather, Mikhail Kishkov. Cast in a tightly constructed single movement, the work takes its inspiration, in part, from the Eastern European world with the frequent use of the folkloric augmented second melodic interval. But Segall's Fantasy also displays a certain expressionistic affinity with the Second Viennese School (especially the music of Alban Berg). The composer writes about the work: " Mikhail Kishkov's wanderings took him first to Palestine in the twenties and then, a few years later, the shores of America, where he became Mitchell Steinberg. As the protagonist of the Fantasy, Kishkov (who died as the composer was writing this work) was indeed a curious, mercurial man. Kishkov conquered adversity as Jews have done through the centuries-by laughing through his tears. Modeled after Bloch's Hebrew Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra, this Fantasy, being a musical portrait of Kishkov, is both darker and more ironic in nature." The work was given its premier in New York by Cameron and Segall in 1990.

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