Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Le Cygne

  1. #1

    Default Le Cygne

    Wedding request. I'd prefer this piece be performed in duo (or, as originally written, as a trio). However, in being contracted as a soloist this outing, this seemed a more convincing approach to me than the few rather unconvincing solo guitar transcriptions I've dug up. I had to pretty substantially alter the accompaniment figure, but still strove to maintain the accompaniment's general rhythm wherever possible. "Misurato" here indicates taking the melody line in metered 32nd notes, as spelled out in the first couple measures. Under "tremolo," the melody can be more freely tremoloed. Some changes are awkward if too fast, so take it at reasonable tempo. Please, give it a try and offer me your criticisms.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails SaintSaëns-Le Cygne.pdf  

  2. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Eugene For This Useful Post:


  3. #2
    mando-evangelist August Watters's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Oregon
    Posts
    1,018
    Blog Entries
    3

    Default Re: Le Cygne

    I posted more extensive comments in the “Exploring Classical Mandolin” group, but will summarize here in case it’s helpful to anyone else:
    ___

    Such a beautifully-thought out adaptation! It falls very naturally and idiomatically on the mandolin fingerboard. Thanks for posting, Eugene, and I hope you post more of these!

    I find the choice of fingerings and positions very clear throughout. However this does require some familiarity with duo-style playing, so there are some places where it might be good to include redundant fingerings—just to help avoid blind alleys. For example, since it helps to keep double-stops on adjacent courses: In measure 2 beat 4, the melody could be tremoloed on the open E, but I find this much easier to play shifting to third position, with the E on the second course, second finger. This is the sort of thing you discover from working on duo-style, but since so many people are coming from different backgrounds, I try to include a few extra fingerings, for clarity. Often I write in a fingering, wherever a position shift occurs.

    I would interpret the three-downstrokes-plus-upstroke in the first measure as three rest strokes plus an up. Which to my ear would not flow as smoothly as a more Beethoven-esque D-D-U-U (rest-free-up-up). Same thing with the last few measures.

    Eugene, you mention you wrote this as background music to a wedding, but I think this is also good as a concert music piece. Usually I prefer to program mostly music composed for mandolin, but audiences also love to hear familiar melodies, set to beautiful textures. Looking back over old concert programs (such as those summarized in The Crescendo), it appears a lot of mandolinists have used this approach!
    Exploring Classical Mandolin (Berklee Press, 2015)
    Progressive Melodies for Mandocello (KDP, 2019) (2nd ed. 2022)
    New Solos for Classical Mandolin (Hal Leonard Press, 2020)
    2021 guest artist, mandocello: Classical Mandolin Society of America

  4. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to August Watters For This Useful Post:


  5. #3

    Default Re: Le Cygne

    I again thank you for your kind words, August. The one I posted there had the benefit of some very slight revisions after posting here. I am thus attaching that slightly revised version here.

    I'm hoping to find time to record the arrangement. If so, I'll post a link.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails SaintSaëns-Le Cygne.pdf  

  6. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Eugene For This Useful Post:


  7. #4

    Default Re: Le Cygne

    I corrected a typo and made a few revisions to measures 1 and 21 in the attached. I'm still hoping to do a cheap home recording of this . . . eventually if not soon. If you make the attempt, I'm very keen for your own thoughts and criticisms.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails SaintSaëns-Le Cygne.pdf  
    Last edited by Eugene; Oct-25-2021 at 5:36pm.

  8. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Eugene For This Useful Post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •