Hökpers Vals

  1. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    This is a waltz composed by the Swedish fiddler Lars Hökpers.
    The original key is d-minor, but I transposed it to e, thus simplifying the guitar backup and exercising my left hand pinky on mandolin.
  2. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    What a beautiful tune, Christian, played with your characteristic precision and wonderful taste. Lovely Saab too.
  3. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Excellent Christian!
    I love the elegant phrasing, like a dance, arms outstretched, stepping carefully across a beach.
  4. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Lovely! As Richard and Simon have said, you have made this composition your own in your characteristic style.
  5. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    I just love this tune and had to do my own version, even though I didn't feel I had anything to add to Christian's. As it turned out, however, I have done several things differently - just to be different, as much as anything. I have played it in the original key of D minor - I don't mind it on the guitar, making use of fifth position where it falls quite nicely. Secondly, I have played it a bit faster, which somewhat changes the mood, as well as (thirdly) not using any tremolo. And finally, I played the whole thing through twice, only bringing in the guitar accompaniment second time round.

    You will all have noticed my problems with synchronizing video and audio. Well, here it synched so perfectly, completely by accident, that I left the audio track on the video, so the mandolin is double-tracked, which perhaps gives a bit more body when it's solo.

    I'm working on the video set-up, but left the stupid lamp on. The pictures were all taken in the garden last October and are included for no musical reason, but to save you having to watch my ugly mug for three minutes unbroken.

  6. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Two great versions of a very beautiful melody, Christian and Richard. It is good to hear the two and appreciate the contrasts in your two styles and deliveries and as a non-tremolo user I lean towards Richard's offering but I genuinely do not think that one is "better" than the other - just different.

    Richard, listening on my headphones I am hearing a slight extraneous low rumble on your track - is it something to do with the mic set-up or maybe that you have kept in the original track?

    Thanks, both of you for this tune, which is a new one to me and now one I will introduce to my fiddler pals.
  7. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    This is a very nice version, Richard, may I ask where you found the sheet music? I found it at the North Atlantic Tune List: https://natunelist.net/hokpers-waltz/
    But there are others that have slightly different chords, spillefolk for example, where the g minor turns into major: https://www.spillefolk.dk/nodesamlin...-larsh&lang=en
  8. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    That worked very well! I like the switching between the flower close-ups and the video of you playing - best of both worlds! It's nice to hear two very different interpretations both working so nicely.
  9. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    Thank you all.

    John, you are right and I am a dimwit. I have spent ages trying to get the sound recording setup right - you can see from the video that the mike is very close to the mandolin. And then I throw it away. (My music room is in the basement next to the room with the furnace - boiler in British English - which hums permanently at this time of year and whooshes periodically. There is also a fridge freezer, which joins in from time to time.)

    This is the same recording, but without the video audio track, from Soundcloud.



    Christian, thanks for introducing me to this lovely tune. I got my version from The Session, usually my first port of call since it also has abc files: https://thesession.org/tunes/16773. I am playing the first version. The guitar part is based on the chords in the second version, but some of these seemed wrong to me - for example, as you say, I use a G major at one point, not minor (though not consistently).

    Dennis, I have a very large collection of garden photos, so this may become a regular pattern.
  10. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Very enjoyable Richard, yes equally as good as Christian!
    Love the boiler, and thanks John, if you hadn’t pointed it out I probably wouldn’t have been able to love it so!
    I listened to an old recording of mine recently and marveled at the background tones and textures of sound from all of the many passing contraptions that burn petrol to operate.

    On yours Richard I like the church or cave-like atmosphere too.
    Reminds me of singing in churches and caves.
  11. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I missed this tune when Christian and Richard posted their lovely versions but have now discovered it.

    I'm playing the tune on mandolin in D minor, on the repeats adding harmonies on second mandolin and mandocello taken from an arrangement by Peter Macfarlane for the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra:

    https://cvsfc.org/VFOtunes/2023Apr/H...Waltz-Lead.pdf
    https://cvsfc.org/VFOtunes/2023Apr/H...tz-Harmony.pdf

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello


    https://youtu.be/-eYp8dbSqIA

    Martin
  12. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Very nice playing Martin, I like the harmony too.
  13. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Simon. I've just compared the VFO version that I used with the two versions that Christian has linked. The VFO version is the same as NA Tunes and uses fairly similar chords to Spillefolk, but mixes the G major and minor chords more. The harmony part is completely different and I think more interesting -- I'm a big fan of the Spillefolk site, but their harmony for this tune mostly just replicates the phrasing of the lead one third lower. The VFO part is more varied.

    Martin
  14. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Beautiful playing, Martin. Nice to listen to Christian’s and Richard’s fine versions again.
  15. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    This sounds very nice, Martin.
  16. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Frithjof and Christian!

    Martin
  17. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    Very nice, Martin. Such a gorgeous tune.
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