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"Con Brio" Album (Johan Kok), for mandolin quartet
The core of the inherited repertoire of our mandolin ensemble consists to a large extent of pieces written in the 1920s/30s by Johan Kok (1889-1954), a Dutch composer of mandolin music for BMG type ensembles and orchestras. One of my favourite collections is an album called "Con Brio, No. 3", which consists of eight pieces for mandolin quartet (two mandolins, mandola, guitar). The pieces are written in a wide range of different styles, none sounding at all alike, but they all have a take-no-prisoners high-energy style matching the title of the album. I'm attaching high-res scans of the original (long out-of-print) album from our archive. Confusingly, Kok has also written a piece called "Con Brio", but it's not in this album.
These eight pieces are all fun as well as accessible for the intermediate player, and can be played as mandolin/guitar duos if you don't have a quartet available.
I've recorded three of the pieces at home today, all with the same instrumental line-up:
Mandolin 1: 1915 Luigi Embergher
Mandolin 2: Mid-Missouri M-0W
Mandola: Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Guitar: Ozark tenor guitar
No. 3: The Showman (novelty dance)
No. 6: Las Palmas (paso doble)
No. 8: Borodjanka (Russian march)
Martin
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Re: "Con Brio" Album (Johan Kok), for mandolin quartet
Here are two more pieces from this album:
No. 7: Dancing Doll
This is probably the best piece in the album, and also the only one without a descriptive dance genre attributed to it.
Mandolin 1: 1915 Luigi Embergher
Mandolin 2: 1890s Umberto Ceccherini
Mandola: Mid-Missouri M-111
Guitar: Ozark tenor guitar
No. 2: Benjamine - valse lente
A nice slow waltz, this time with the Ceccherini rather than the Embergher on first mandolin.
Mandolin 1: 1890s Umberto Ceccherini
Mandolin 2: 1915 Luigi Embergher
Mandola: Mid-Missouri M-111
Guitar: Ozark tenor guitar
Martin
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Re: "Con Brio" Album (Johan Kok), for mandolin quartet
Here's another recording out of this album: this one is the first tune - a tango called "La Margarita".
I recorded this initially at the same time as my other uploads, but I wasn't happy with it. I really like this tune, and we've been playing it on-and-off for years, but my recording didn't sound right. I ended up re-recording the guitar for a more positive tango rhythm and the first mandolin for a smoother tone -- I had used the Embergher but I should have remembered that on all my previous Latin dance tune recordings I have always gravitated towards my Mid-Mo, for that flattop sound. So, here's the re-recording with an all-Mid-Mo lineup (apart from the tenor guitar):
Mandolin 1 & 2: Mid-Missouri M-0W
Mandola: Mid-Missouri M-111
Guitar: Ozark tenor guitar
Martin
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Registered User
Re: "Con Brio" Album (Johan Kok), for mandolin quartet
Thank you! more mandolin stuff I need to hear.
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Re: "Con Brio" Album (Johan Kok), for mandolin quartet
I have just re-recorded two of the Johan Kok tunes from this album (Dancing Doll and Benjamine), in a less regimented recording style: simply record a video of the lead mandolin part, then overdub all the other parts to that lead track. Also trying out a new webcam.
Mandolins 1 & 2: Mid-Missouri M-0W
Mandola (octave): Mid-Missouri M-111
Guitar: Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Martin
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