Thanks for the CD John! Browsing and picking is on my schedule for this weekend!
Thanks for the CD John! Browsing and picking is on my schedule for this weekend!
I love the USPS!! For some odd reason, Plamen got his in Bulgaria before I got mine in New York. In any case, I do sincerely appreciate your generosity, John. Thanks a ton!!
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Reminds me of one Christmas when my wife and I ordered all our gifts, save one item, from sources overseas. The one from here in the States was the next to last to arrive ... and it was beaten out of last place only because the final item came from a factory in Scotland that had experienced a fire and was behind on all its orders.
Anyway, glad it finally got there. Thanks to all for the kind comments.
John Craton
"Pick your fingers to the bone, then pick with the bone"
Thanks for the CD, John. Look forward to checking it out soon.
Cheers
Mark R-T
Quick question to John (or anybody else): we had a readthrough of the Danseries yesterday, and with some practice to internalise the dance rhythms they should work fine. However, I am not sure if it is your intention that the entire suite should be played single-stroke or whether the longer notes should be tremoloed. For early music, I would normally not use tremolo, but I note that there are explicit staccato marks on some of the crotchets, which implies that the unmarked crotchets should be played with tremolo. From our readthrough, tremolo sounds more musical for the slower parts as the sound is otherwise a bit sparse (we were a quartet at yesterday's rehearsal, i.e. only one instrument per part for first and second mando, mandola and guitar). Any advice?
Martin
Martin,
Generally speaking, I hear the suite played mostly single-struck -- primarily, I suppose, because I tend to think of them as being originally played on a giant lute. However, I make no hard and fast rules in that area, leaving much up to the interpretation of the performer. (This is true of most of my works because I believe that a composer only brings forth the idea, and it is the performer who actually breathes life into a piece. I try to write things as I hear them, but that doesn't make it written in stone; the performer must put his own mind and soul into it as well ... but I grow boringly pedantic.)
You might want to listen to Alex Timmerman's interpretation of the premiere, which he and Het CONSORT were kind enough to share with us on Youtube:
Part One
Part Two
Hope my verbal meanderings are of some help.
John Craton
"Pick your fingers to the bone, then pick with the bone"
Thank you John, the Rags are going to be fun. Looking for some more time to get through the rest. This is really a great accomplishment.
After sending out several dozen of these CDs, somone finally notified me to let me know of a few discrepancies in the mp3 files. Evidently a few of the mp3s play something other than what is indicated on the CD. Mostly this involves some of the Van Eyck Variations and the Sonatina No. 3. My apologies for the error. I now have fixed these issues, so anyone receiving the CD after this date should get one that plays correctly. However, do note that none of these problems seem to involve the PDF files, and even if you have one of the defective discs you still can find the correct mp3 files on my website. Just a heads up. Thanks!
John Craton
"Pick your fingers to the bone, then pick with the bone"
Bookmarks