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Thread: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

  1. #26
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    John Goodin: Autumn Suite , November 2020
    1. Amber - 0:00
    2. Russet - 1:27


    It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of John Goodin last week. John was a good musical friend, a constant inspiration, and offered great support to my (sometimes fumbling) attempts at playing his music. Over the years, I have recorded 49 of his compositions on my channel. I have been revisting some old favourites and some of his newer compositions this week in his memory.

    Over the past couple of years, John wrote four seasonal suites for solo mandocello (or octave mandolin). This was the fourth suite to complete the set. There are five movements, of which I have recorded the first two in this video. The score and John's own recording (on OM) are here:

    https://somanytunes.blogspot.com/202...ndolin-or.html

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello (solo)



    Martin

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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    I am sure many of us join you in this sense of loss; Thank you for posting and promoting John's music. And thank you for your contributions to mandocello repertoire, I have included your work in my CMSA Mandocello presentations and will do so again at this year's Convention in the Clouds.
    jim

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  5. #28
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Here is another tune for my mandocello playlist.

    "Song Of The Chanter" (or "The Chanter's Tune"), Irish pipe march

    I'm playing the tune five times through on the mandocello. After the first repeat, I add tenor guitar arpeggios over the chord progression from Allan Alexander's book "Celtic Music for Mandolin". For repeats 3 and 4 I add Allan's first variation of the tune as a discant counter melody on mandolin.

    The tune is normally considered to be in D Mixolydian, but my accompaniment is in D Dorian instead (i.e. F naturals rather than F sharps). Makes no difference to the tune itself as it does not contain any F (whether sharp or natural). It has a distinctly renaissance feel played this way.

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin



    Martin

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    Martin, I want you to know I sang your praises at the CMSA Mandocello in the 21st Century session last night. I told a group of 20-some players that no one has posted more--and a greater variety of music for mandocello. I included your website in my packet of materials along with pages and pages of new music. Thank you for your contributions, and let's keep promoting this wonderful instrument.
    jim

  8. #30
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Thanks for the kind words, Jim -- hope the session went well!

    Martin

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Thomas Ravenscroft (1611): "Remember O Thou Man"

    This is a Christmas carol written by Thomas Ravenscroft (c.1592-1635), published in his collection Melismata in 1611. My instrumental version includes all four voices of the original 1611 choral arrangement, starting with solo mandocello, then the mandolin taking over the melody, and then second mandolin and octave mandolin filling in the harmonies.

    I first heard this tune as part of Richard Thompson's "1000 Years Of Popular Music" show, and my interpretation is coloured by his -- there is a wide range of different ways of performing this carol, mostly much slower than I do.

    I've used Steve Hendrick's transcription (which is note-for-note identical to Ravenscroft's original):

    https://sca.uwaterloo.ca/sca/Hendric...s/remember.pdf

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello (Soprano verse 1, Tenor verse 2, bass verses 3-4)
    1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (Soprano verses 2-4)
    1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (Alto verses 3-4)
    Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin (Tenor verses 3-4)


    https://youtu.be/MeFojLhnTtU

    Martin

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  11. #32

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    I really enjoy your playing and I thank you for sharing with the world something that is not seen in everyday life.

  12. #33
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Thanks Lucinda(lin) -- mandocello is a fun instrument, and it's nice to have an alternative voice.

    Martin

  13. #34
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    My Ladie Laudian's Lilt (from the Straloch Lute Manuscript, 1627)
    Setting by Allan Alexander & Jessica Walsh


    This is an arrangement of a well-known Scottish renaissance lute piece, which appears in two of the most important Scottish renaissance music sources, the Straloch Manuscript and the Skene Manuscript. My arrangement is based on chords and a variation taken from "Celtic Music for Mandolin" by Allan Alexander & Jessica Walsh. They intended the variation to be played after the tune, to make it longer, but I've used it as a second voice.

    Placed as a trio of mandocello, nylgut-strung bowlback mandolin (very similar to the mandore or soprano lute, which was the instrument for which the Skene manuscript was written) and tenor guitar -- accompaniment instruments picturesquely displayed at the door to my left...

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    "Baroq-ulele" nylgut-strung bowlback mandolin (x2)
    Ozark tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/7nMAEFhGsMA

    Martin

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Thoinot Arbeau: Branle des pois (Pease Branle)
    From Orchésographie, 1589
    Variations by Allan Alexander, from "Music For Renaissance Faires"


    This is a very short renaissance dance tune, for which Allan Alexander has written three variations. I am playing the tune six times on mandocello, with mandolin playing the variations over the top, to a strummed rhythm on OM.

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin


    https://youtu.be/FF_IOimgER8

    Martin

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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Interesting use of counterpoint--the variation as counterpoint to original melody. Probably would work with a lot of T&V pieces, I wondered if this was your own idea or if you found it in the literature. Thank you again for your many contributions to mandocello literature.
    jim
    Jim

    Dr James S Imhoff
    Boston University
    Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

    1912 Gibson K4 Mandocello; Thomann Mandocello; Stiver F5; American? Bowlback; Martin 00016; Dusepo Cittern/liuto cantabile

  17. #37
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Thanks, Jim. Probably not an original concept, but I did come up with it myself in order to make ad-hoc polyphonic settings out of single line early music pieces that were too short for a satisfying performance and too repetitive if repeated too often without mixing it up. I have a number of early music books by Allan Alexander, and his solution to that problem was to add his own variations to the end of the original tune. I found that I didn't particularly care for those variations played sequentially, but where the structure of the variation is compatible with the theme I liked the effect of using them as counterpoint. Also works for some of Allan's Carolan settings.

    Here are a couple of medieval tunes that I recorded in that way a few years ago:

    Cantiga 353: Quen a Omagen da Virgen (Alfonso X of Castile, c. 1280)
    Come With Me My Giselle (Adam de la Halle, c. 1300)

    I also used the same trick for another 16 century French branle over the weekend, to be uploaded shortly.

    Martin

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    It makes sense if the harmonic structure stays constant. Turns the work into a chaconne with the original theme as the ground.
    Of course some T&V works make much more dramatic changes, Elgar's Enigma and Brahm's Haydn Variations for example.
    I remember trying to add a harmony part in a bluegrass jam circle, and some people told me they thought that would be too "confusing." Hmmph.
    Jim

    Dr James S Imhoff
    Boston University
    Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

    1912 Gibson K4 Mandocello; Thomann Mandocello; Stiver F5; American? Bowlback; Martin 00016; Dusepo Cittern/liuto cantabile

  19. #39
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Yes, indeed -- I have taken the chord sequence indicated by Allan in his published score as an indication of harmonic compatibility. In early music, horizontal counterpoint of more-or-less independent voices was in any case very common, even where there are occasional harmonic clashes.

    Martin

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    Yes, very familiar with "early" music, pre-Joseph Fux "Gradus ad Parnassum" counterpoint book. In my choral conducting days I did music from the 11th century with college choirs and even presented a Medieval Yule Feast with 6th graders.
    Many musicologists say that Western European music became constrained as the rules of harmony and counterpoint limited tonal palates. Listening to music from other cultures, we hear all kinds of combinations. I think you are opening up an opportunity for more chamber ensemble literature here--I'll play the theme while you play the variations!
    jim
    Jim

    Dr James S Imhoff
    Boston University
    Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

    1912 Gibson K4 Mandocello; Thomann Mandocello; Stiver F5; American? Bowlback; Martin 00016; Dusepo Cittern/liuto cantabile

  21. #41
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Another two new mandocello recordings: a Russian (or Klezmer) waltz and a Scottish reel.

    Herold Lavrentievich Kittler (1847-1916): Expectation Waltz (ожидание)

    This is a Russian waltz written in 1901. It's best known in Russia through a prominent appearance in the 1962 film "Optimistic Tragedy", and also played as a klezmer song under the name "Ershter vals" with Yiddish lyrics by Chaim Towber.

    My instrumental recording on solo mandocello with tenor guitar accompaniment is based on Paul Hardy's tunebook:

    https://pghardy.net/concertina/tuneb...n_tunebook.pdf

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/0YC_yeuRgso

    The Fairy Dance (Neil Gow)

    This Scottish dance tune was publised by Neil Gow, and may have been written by him. My mandocello rendition (doubled an octave higher on mandolin on the repeats) is again based on Paul Hardy's transcription:

    https://pghardy.net/concertina/tuneb...n_tunebook.pdf

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


    https://youtu.be/frHFsD5F110

    Martin

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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Jonas View Post

    The Fairy Dance (Neil Gow)

    This Scottish dance tune was publised by Neil Gow, and may have been written by him. My mandocello rendition (doubled an octave higher on mandolin on the repeats) is again based on Paul Hardy's transcription:

    Martin
    Thank you for the recording and for the connection to Paul Hardy's Concertina book--a wonderful collection of tunes.
    jim
    Jim

    Dr James S Imhoff
    Boston University
    Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

    1912 Gibson K4 Mandocello; Thomann Mandocello; Stiver F5; American? Bowlback; Martin 00016; Dusepo Cittern/liuto cantabile

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  24. #43
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    Bear Waltz (Anne Pape)

    I found this waltz in the Southern Maryland Open Band tunebook, where it is credited to Anne Pape -- I know nothing else about it, but liked how nicely it sits in the range of the mandocello:

    https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...ookJan2021.pdf

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/k9snmSECqqw

    Martin

  25. #44
    Registered User Markkunkel's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    THANK YOU for sharing these, Martin. It is such a gift to be part of a world community of music, and music-makers.

    Mark

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  27. #45
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Thanks, Mark -- good to hear you're enjoying these. Here is another one.

    High Clouds (Waltz by David Kaynor)

    This waltz was written in 1980 by fiddler David Kaynor of the Greenfield Dance Band, who is active in the contra dance and social dance scene in Massachusetts. There are several recordings on Youtube, including by the composer himself. My version is based on the melody and harmony transcription from the Southern Maryland Open Band tunebook at:

    https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...ookJan2021.pdf

    Played as a mandocello duet, with tenor guitar arpeggio accompaniment.

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/mhUE9PpXejg

    Martin

  28. #46
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    I haven't added any new recordings to this thread since March, but here's one I enjoyed playing on the mandocello.

    Georg Philipp Telemann: Partita No. 5 (TWV 41:e1), Aria 4: Siciliana
    First published in "Kleine Kammermusik" (1716).


    I originally found this nice tune in a collection of Baroque recorder duets edited by Gertrud Keller (link). Strangely, Keller presents the solo melody only, the only solo piece in a collection of duets. I liked the melody, but it didn't sound like a solo composition to me. Telemann wrote a great number of sicilianas, but I eventually found the right one in a collection of six partitas published in 1716, for melody instrument and continuo -- the original edition says "for violin or transverse flute, or keyboard, but especially oboe". As suspected, the original had a continuo part to go with the melody.

    IMSLP has two settings for Partita 5: one with just the siciliana and without continuo, and the other in a setting for trumpet and organ by Michel Rondeau. The Rondeau setting has Finale source files for further editing, so I have extracted a performing score for mandolin and mandocello (or alternatively classical guitar) from those Finale files.

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Partita_No.5%...Georg_Philipp)

    Since then, I have noticed that IMSLP also has the complete set of six partitas in a nice typeset PDF with figured bass, which makes my version somewhat redundant:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Kleine_Kammer...Georg_Philipp)

    I have uploaded three PDFs:

    My adaptation for mandocello (in bass clef)
    My adaptation for guitar (in octave treble clef)
    IMSLP urtext edition with figured bass.

    For my recording, I have played the continuo part on mandocello, and have overdubbed the melody line on mandolin afterwards. Great fun on mandocello (although I think I've flubbed my high E naturals...).

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin


    https://youtu.be/KxEC0WW8v4U

    Martin

  29. #47
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Cairo Waltz

    This old-time waltz was written and recorded by Norman Blake as a fiddle tune. It sits pretty low in the fiddle range, which makes it transfer nicely to mandocello in the same key. It's a waltz in 9/8 time, which makes for a rather different phrasing from the usual -- all in triplets.

    My version is based on the setting by Casey and Peter Willis from Fiddlevideo.com -- G major the first time, then up a step to A major for the second time:

    https://www.fiddlevideo.com/wp-conte...ro%20Waltz.pdf

    Their own recording on fiddle and resonator guitar is here: Link

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/_j4ysAXoCQ0

    Martin

  30. #48
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Another mandocello tune, this one a cover of an early 1960s bubblegum pop hit:

    Sealed With A Kiss

    This song was written and composed by Peter Udell and Gary Geld. It first became a hit in 1962 for Brian Hyland, and then later for Bobby Vinton in 1972 and for Jason Donovan in 1989.

    My instrumental cover is based on a transcription in a wonderful old music book ("101 Rock'n'Roll Hits for Buskers"). Melody on mandocello with a tenor guitar rhythm. Mandolin doubling the melody on the repeat.

    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/iVNKPBh_pcw

    Martin

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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    lovely kiss. especially when the mandolin tremolo comes in. yummy shiny thomastic strings, too. in other news, my MC-815 finally has a doctor's appointment re truss rod retrofit. how is the neck on yours?

  32. #50
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandocello solo and duo recordings playlist

    Quote Originally Posted by mandocello8 View Post
    lovely kiss. especially when the mandolin tremolo comes in. yummy shiny thomastic strings, too. in other news, my MC-815 finally has a doctor's appointment re truss rod retrofit. how is the neck on yours?
    Thanks! It's fun to play on mandocello, with those interspersed bass notes.

    Yes, the neck on my Suzuki is just fine -- I double-checked after our recent discussion on the other thread. I may just have been lucky (or you unlucky), or it may depend on stringing and use history.

    These are TI strings, indeed. Came with the instrument when I bought it and as they basically never wear out or change I never saw the need to get new ones. I tried d'Addario briefly, but couldn't cope with the buzz. No buzzing at all with TI string. It took me a while to select a suitable pick, though. They are very dull in tone, so it was difficult to find a pick that coaxes a bit of brightness from them. I settled on a large thick triangle pick from hard clear plastic with sharp (non-rounded) corners, Jim Dunlop branded.

    Martin

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