1)BACH: Allegro from Italian Concerto BWV 971(Arr for Mandolin and Guitar): 2) VIVALDI: Allegro from Mandolin Concerto RV425: 3) HOFFMAN: Allegro from Mandolin Sonata No2 in Dm:4) BEETHOVEN: Mandolin Sonatina in C Major Woo44A: 5) BACH : Courante from Lute Suite in Gm BWV995: 6) ALBENIZ: Asturias Leyenda from Suite Espanola No1 Op47( Arr for Mandolin and Guitar): 7) FEBONIO: Sprite from Water Ballads Op47 8) HOFFMAN: Rondo from Mandolin Concerto in D Major: 9) WEISS: Chaconne from Lute Sonata No14 in G Major 10) VIVALDI: Andante from Concerto for 2 Mandolins RV 532 (Arr for Mandolin Orchestra)11) BACH: Gavotte en Rondeau from Suite in E Major BWV1006A: 12) FASCH: Allegretto Moderato from Lute Concerto in Dm (Arr R.Chiesa) 13) CALACE : Rondo from Mandolin Concerto No1 Op113: 14) BACH: Bourree from Suite in Em BWV996: 15) HOFFMANN: Rondo from Mandolin Sonata in G Major: 16) CAROSIO: Flirtation Rag : 17)BEETHOVEN: Mandolin Sonatina in C Minor Woo 43A (Arr Mandolin and Fortepiano): 18) Andante con Variazioni from Mandolin Concerto in G Major: 19) BACH: Vivace from Concerto for 2 Violins in Dm BWV 1043 (Arr for Mandolin Orchestra).
Performers 1) Dorina Frati & Piera Dadomo 2) Paul O’Dette, The Parley of Instruments , Peter Holman 3) Ahlert and Schwab Duo, 4 )Elfriede Kunschak and Maria Hinterleitner, 5)Konrad Ragossnig 6) Jacob Reuven and Eyal Leber, 7) Ahlert and Schwab Duo 8) Elfriede Kunschak, Pro Musica Orchestra Vienna, Vinzenz Hladky 9) Ahlert and Schwab Duo 10) Silvia Tenchini, Dorina Frati, Mandolin Orchestra , Mauro e Claudio Terroni 11) Yasunori Imamura 12) Konrad Ragossnig Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Paul Angerer 13) Alison Stephens, Steven Devine 14) Yasunori Imamura 15) Ahlert and Schwab Duo 16) Center Boys’ Rag Band 17) Alon Sariel Michael Tsalka 18) Edith Bauer – Slais Pro Musica Orchestra Vienna Vinzenz Hladky 19) Silvia Tenchini, Dorina Frati, Mandolin Orchestra Mauro e Claudio Terroni
Naxos 8.578183 : CD
With recordings from as far back as 1985 to ones produced in 2020, this CD, with its many and varied tracks and equally many and varied performers, was always going to be an interesting listen. Things get off to a great start with the mandolin and guitar arrangement of a movement from Bach’s Italian Concerto. The mandolin fairly races off the starting gate, and it is utterly convincing in this new guise as the playing is first rate. After a pleasant Vivaldi concerto comes a work by Johann (or Giovanni) Hoffmann of whom little is known save that he produced an extensive creative output, for mandolin with other instruments, to include duets, a concerto, quartets, divertimenti, sonatas and further works in different forms. Judging by the three lovely works found here, he has been unjustly neglected, except for the fact that he writes for an instrument that now is not as popular in classical circles as it obviously was then. The Beethoven works might surprise you, but they are original works, not arrangements for he composed at least six works for mandolin, four of which survive, although none were published during his lifetime. He owned a mandolin that was hung over his piano and moreover he was friends with two prominent mandolinists, both of whom were linked to his surviving mandolin music. This Sonatina has an engaging style, and is a lot of fun with plenty of good melodies and interesting harmonies. Then at track five we are introduced to the Lute via one of its main exponents, Konrad Ragossnig, who plays the familiar Courante from the Lute Suite in Gm of Bach. Now, Albeniz for Mandolin and Guitar might seem a bizarre combination, but the Asturias with its rapid repeated notes, works fabulously well on the mandolin, whilst the guitar fills in the rest. I wasn’t expecting to like this track, but it is very entertaining! American – born Tom G. Febonio has many melodic pieces to his credit, and has musically speaking crossed many borders along the way doing so. He was a new name to me, but I can state that Sprite from Water Ballads Op47 is a lovely emotionally warm piece that deserves to be heard! Silvius Leopold Weiss was one of the greatest players and composers of the Baroque Lute as witnessed by his many suites and other pieces which are all as involving and in many ways as exceptional as some of Bach’s instrumental music. So to find one of those pieces arranged for mandolin and guitar might surprise the listener, but the large tessitura of the baroque lute fits surprisingly well onto these two instruments. The lutenist Yasunori Imamura is a new name to me, so the fact that he has appeared on more than 150 recordings means that I really should have. Here he performs two of Bach’s most famous lute works and puts a number of very effective embellishments into his performances along the way. Johann Friedrich Fasch is another name not often found on recordings nowadays, and this arrangement of his Lute concerto in Dm, played by Konrad Ragossnig on guitar with orchestral accompaniment is a very worthwhile piece, arranged as it was by the musicologist Ruggero Chiesa. Raffaele Calace, was a mandolinist who straddled the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries and this Rondo from his 1st Mandolin concerto is again a real find, very endearing, and extremely well played by the mandolin and piano duo of Alison Stephens and Steven Devine. However the track that REALLY has fun written all over it is the fabulous Flirtation Rag by one Ermenegildo Carosio , played by the Center Boys’ Rag Band. The final work on this CD is the famous Concerto for 2 violins and orchestra of Bach ,but here played by a mandolin orchestra , which one would automatically feel really shouldn’t work, but the sound is phenomenal, and yes it really suits the orchestra perfectly well.
So in consideration of this very varied set of pieces played by this huge array of different performers, all I can say is that is a great listen, really nicely recorded and that if you are one of those people who thinks that mandolins don’t have a place in classical music, then this CD will change your mind, and of course all the other instruments inherent in this CD are just as equally well played. A great CD!
Chris Dumigan
Comments