Jean Vogt (1823-1888): Nachtgesang No. 2, Op. 10/2 Arranged for mandolin quartet by Paul Rink. This is a very delicate little nocturne written by the German romantic composer and pianist Jean Vogt when he was working in St. Petersburg in 1853. The original version was written for violin and piano and is on IMSLP here. This arrangement for mandolin quartet was published in Berlin in the early 1900s. The original composition was in Ab major, but Rink transposed it one semitone up to A major. I found the arrangement in the Nakano archive, and have uploaded it here: Link This particular nocturne seems to have been quite popular in the 19th century (a fair number of archive hits on Google), but I haven't found any trace of previous sound recordings other than my own 2015 version. It means I can approach the score unencumbered by performance history or preconceptions. I find this one very charming, in particular the lightly plucked sixteenth-note passage. I have played the piece on my Vinaccia (doubled), with mandola and tenor guitar. 1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia (x2) Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Martin
I do love that litttle mandolin...
I'm with Frankdolin. The player's not bad either.
"I find this one very charming, in particular the lightly plucked sixteenth-note passage." Me too.
Lovely melody, fine playing, thanks Martin. This one goes onto my ‘To Do’ list.
Thanks, all -- a pleasure to resurrect a lovely forgotten old Victorian parlour piece like this. Simon: do play it. It would double the number of recordings of the piece in existence. Martin
Fine arrangement and your usual very competent delivery, Martin. In what order did you record the tracks?
Thanks, John. Same order as on all my recent video recordings (except the piano ones): the track you see on screen is recorded first as a solo, then the other tracks are overdubbed onto the extracted audio from the video file. No click track, guide track or headphones involved in the initial video, just solo mandolin. Martin
Bravo, Martin!!! Your recording sounds very tasteful. The timing and interplay of all voices is gorgeous. The mandolin really speaks to me. Going through the scores and trying to play along with you for some measures shows that it would need a lot of practice to learn all the voices. For me, that is. I could imagine a nice mandolin plus guitar recording by Christian. Or different instrument combinations by others.
I like this piece, Martin. That's a lot of instruments to sync up. Nicely done.
Well done! Over the years you've allowed us to visit your little triangular shaped music room with the awesome collection of mandolins on the wall behind you as well as which ever mandolin you choose to play. Thanks for that!
Somehow, this little lullaby must have slipped my attention. You really make the Vinaccia sing, Martin!
Frithjof/Ginny/Michael/Christian: Thank you very much for those kind comments -- glad you like this little piece from the past. Martin
