The Swan played by Ranieri on an Embergher

[JeffD]

Holy tremolo batman!!

[Simon DS]

?


https://youtu.be/5lDMo8kjeEI

[JeffD]

Yes my linker didn't link.

[Jim Garber]

That is Ralf Leenen, one of the foremost proponents and players of Embergher mandolins and the Ranieri method of playing. I have spent some time with him when he used to come over here to visit.

[JeffD]

That is Ralf Leenen,

I have listened to a lot of his youtubes. I like his "furioso" playing.

[Jim Imhoff]

"Something we wouldn't do today...." (comment in the video about descending glissando).

I was a grad student in the days when performance practice and period instruments were all the rage. The emphasis then was, and still is, on a lighter, crisper, un-romanticized sound in pre-19th century music. No vibrato in 16th Century a cappella, less legato in baroque articulation, phrasing as rhetoric rather than emotional expression...
Here we have the same idea applied, historically informed, but with the very romanticized approach. Initially the playing, although beautifully smooth and rich, struck me as a bit too sentimental. But I realize that is probably, as Ralf explains, just what Saint Saens wanted. I have heard baroque and even Renaissance music performed this way, ruining (I think) the purity and spirit of the music. But here, I have to adjust my ears and say yes, that buttery, fluid phrasing fits the music.
Hmmmm... The Swan....I think I better go practice tremolo more on my mandocello. Something I better do today.
Thank you Maestro!

[JeffD]

The secret, as I see it, is to be able to play it with or without the glissandi, when called on.