Andrini brothers

[Neil Gladd]

The Andrini Brothers were mentioned elsewhere at the Cafe a few weeks ago, when Jim posted some photos of them. I bought one of their records on eBay that very day, and today it arrived in the mail. What a disappointment! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif I had higher expectations for students of Bernardo de Pace, who I like a great deal, but I could only listen to a few tracks before I had to take it off. The opening track was played on tenor banjos, accompanied by piano, accordion and drum set, and the accompaniment stayed the same, when they switched to ELECTRIC mandolin for the other tracks. It was pretty commercial sounding, and the playing was not that good, with a number of missed notes. The difficult parts of Czardas were faked, the way that most mandolinists (Dave Apollon, Howard Frye, et al) faked it.

Has any mandolinist ever recorded Czardas straight and actually played all the notes? I would love to hear it some time.

Here (http://www.neilgladd.com/AndriniBros.jpg) is most of the LP back, showing their photo, bio and program.

Perhaps they were better in their younger days... (Hmmm, when they made the record, they weren't THAT much older than I am, so maybe I should take that back...)

[Jim Garber]

Hi Neil:
Hey, if nothing else that "trick" photograph of them in the horns of the dilemma mandolin is worth the price of admission.

Having taken lessons with Roy Smeck, I am not surprised when any of these guys would do anything to make a buck. Figure also that this recording was put out by a small record company that prob didn't want to spend a ton of cash on recording time. "Hey, Andrinis, we are only paying for one take on each cut. And we need it loud and fast and with a beat. No, put down that weird mandolin and pick up those banjos."

You get the idea. Of course most likely, most of the ideas were their own. There are numerous photos of them in weird get ups acting goofy.

Hey, but for the grace of time we would all be doing that back then. No accounting for taste. At least we have day jobs.

[el cro]

Has any mandolinist ever recorded Czardas straight and actually played all the notes? I would love to hear it some time.

Well, unfortunately I had never heard of the "World Famous" Andrini Brothers before. But I have heard a lot of people playing Czardas on the mandolin. It is probably one of the most played classical pieces (Monti was a mandolinist himself).

IMHO the best recordings are those of Detlef Tewes (http://www.emusic.com/album/Detlef-Tewes-Boris-Bj%C3%B6rn-Bagger-Oh-That-s-Mandoline-MP3-Download/11176845.html), Ugo Orlandi (http://www.emusic.com/album/Ugo-Orlandi-Maura-Mazzonetto-Rapsodia-Napoletana-MP3-Download/10967619.html) and Gertrud Troster (http://www.emusic.com/album/Vol-6-Romance-Passion-Vol-6-Romance-Passion-MP3-Download/11115373.html). Very different from Dave Apollon or Howard Frye recording.

There is also this live performance by the Quintetto Giuseppe Anedda (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4UCWMaHUkw) which I think is very nice.

Élio

[aussiemando]

Many years ago I saw Detlef play it "straight" here in Australia and it was mind blowing. #

Kurt Jensen played it very well also here in Melbourne.

There is also a friend of mine called Yuri who does it freakily well on Balalaika.

Tania who plays guitar with me talked me into recording it in 2004 and I must say I was pretty reluctant because of the piece's history with mandolin and the fact that so many do it so well. #Anyway she did something I thought was nice with the harmonics section and we were too newly acquainted for me to try to get out of it once she had gone to the trouble of arranging her part. #I decided that since I wouldn't achieve the speed by the time of recording (if ever)I would try to make it as musical as possible. #I used the violin music and am not aware of the "cheat" you are referring to but I assume I recorded it without that.

My website music link seems not to be working as it used to so I'll put it up on our myspace page for a little while www.myspace.com\nougatduo.

Best wishes,
Ruth

[Plamen Ivanov]

Never heard about the Andrini Brothers.

Carlo Aonzo has recorded the Czardas as well. The whole "Serenata" CD is worth, so you might be interested in purchasing it.

[brunello97]

Do the Andrinis get featured in Sheri Mignano's "Mandolins, Like Salami"? I keep meaning to get a copy from her, and maybe should now in conjunction with her band's new CD.

I guess being 'World Famous' isn't quite what it used to be. Fifteen minutes just seems like ten these days.....

Mick

[mandoisland]

Some time ago I found a recording of a piece named Tenebre Infinita which impressed me instantly. Later I found out, that this piece has been composed by Lorenzo Andrini.

For me this melody is a real gem, maybe comparable to Blue Spanish Eyes by the German Bert Kaempferet who is famous for his successfull compositions. I admire Lorenzo Andrini for this composition.

I would be very interested in hearing the Andrini Brothers, maybe there is a chance that the recordings can be made available on some place.

I would be very interested in getting a copy of the version for mandolin that has been published by Monti - I do only have the violin version. I think that the harmonics are not possible on the mandolin as on the violin. So I think it is not necessary to play this exactly as it is played on a violin. I think the version by Detlef Tewes is definitly very close to what is ever possible, one of the best versions. But I do also like very much the version by Dave Apollon, which has another intention.

[brunello97]

Michael, I love playing Tenebre Infinita (what a title: Infinite Darkness. #One must be careful with that!)

I am just a rube from Texas but the debate here about the detailing and mechanics of Ciarda reminds me of similar debates about Bill Monroe's "Rawhide' on other threads here. #Both pieces kind of leave me yawning. #Pretty intros, then an AK-47 of notes. #Come to think of it, I do prefer Hendrix's #'Machine Gun' to either piece--the mood of TI and all the finesse and pyrotechnique desired. #(That would be something to work out on the bowlback.)

Mick

[Martin Jonas]

Tenebre Infinita is wonderful -- I love playing that tune. You may all know this already, but the sheet music is in Sheri Mignano's wonderful Mandolin Melodies, which also has three other Andrini tunes, all credited to Frank & Lawrence:

Brazillera Samba
Jota Variata
Mandolira (presumably named after Lawrence's lyre-mandolin)

Truth be told, none of them is as good as Tenebre Infinita, though.

Martin