This is an Italian folk dance tune from Potenza, the capital of Basilicata. This particular arrangement is by Luigi Canoro (or "Canora"), most famous for writing the mazurka "Tra Veglio E Sonno", and was published in 1925 by Di Bella Music in New York along with a companion piece (Quadriglia Barese), which I have also recorded today and am uploading separately. The parts for both tunes are in Sheri Mignano's Dropbox folders, under "Di Bella". I have extracted them and uploaded them here: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...=1#post1871646 The tune was also recorded on an old 78 in 1922 by "Banda de villagio" (actually the in-house Victor Band), which is on Youtube (link). More recently, the tune has been recorded on the fabulous album "Mia dolce farfalla" by Mike Guggino and Barrett Smith -- they used the same Canoro arrangement as I did, but Mike is a better player than me! Also on Youtube (Link). I have arranged the tune as a mandolin quartet, using Canoro's two mandolin parts, a tenor guitar rhythm and a mandocello bass line extracted from Canoro's guitar part. 1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2) Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Suzuki MC-815 mandocello Martin
You and your Vinacci really produce that Italian sound, Martin!
I love Tarantellas, so fun. Nice work Martin, I agree with Christian!
Thanks, Christian and Frank -- yes, these tarantellas and quadriglias are great fun! They're often played at breakneck speed, but I'm pleased to see that the two recordings I linked are not that much faster than mine. I've recorded another Neapolitan quadriglia over the weekend, which I'm about to upload. Martin
Another good performance, Martin. I would like to hear it without the second mandolin part, I think.
Thanks, John. As it happens, my original mix had the second mandolin part pretty low in the mix. I listened to the Mike Guggino version after I had recorded mine, but before I uploaded it. Mike uses the same second mandolin part as me, and has it mixed very prominently. I liked that effect so I boosted that part in my mix as well, possibly too high -- it's a really tricky counter rhythm and alignment is important. I've just made a mix without second mandolin for you. Everything else exactly the same: Your browser does not support the audio element. I think this sounds a bit too plain without the harmony, but all a matter of personal preference. Martin
Martin, thanks for doing this new mix just for me (and, I hope, others). I like it a lot and feel that the melody stands out much more. As you say, it is very much a matter of personal preference. I think maybe in your melody and harmony mix the "really tricky counter rhythm" may have been a factor in my listening. I am aware that in my last two or three postings in the SAW Group I was aiming for simpler arrangements just to ring the changes. Thanks again for you kind gesture.
Thanks, Martin, for both versions. I go with John, but assume that I would enjoy the full arrangement in a live performance.
Thanks John and Frithjof. I think one factor is that I hear my own mistakes more clearly on the solo version, and cringe internally... Maybe my original mix with the harmony lower is a halfway house. Martin
Quick note on this tune, and on its companion "Quadriglia Barese": we played both tunes (with harmony part taken by our mandola player an octave down) at our group rehearsal tonight for the first time, and one of my colleagues pointed out that both of them fall under the fingers much better if played in third position. I haven't tried myself, but if any of you are working on these tunes you may give third position a go to see how you get on. We also played "Quadriglia Ambas!", which has been in our repertoire folders for several years but goes well with this set. Martin
I’ve tried these at third a few times before Martin but never really took to it. -I’m really not sure why, it’s certainly a lot easier to play some of them, and they flow well further up the neck, and the tone is often richer around sixth fret on the octave. Thinking more about it, maybe it’s that the fingering with FFcP on the larger scale octave feels less solid/has to be more physical at higher tempos. I certainly don’t get full tone using the little finger around tenth fret. It’s also because the courses are a LOT more flexible on the octave in the lateral direction which means the fingers coming down must arrive at a very precise location, up the fretboard but more importantly across the fretboard, at tempo, a location that changes a lot with fret number. With a mandolin, the finger tips are huge in comparison to the fretboard so it’s going to be relatively easy to get the string fretted.
