Holiday Mandolin Music

Dear mandolin friends,

a few years ago, I was commissioned to compose a short work for mandolin and mandola; a grateful mandolin student wished to thank her teacher with something that would be one-of-a-kind, and graciously gifted him a holiday present that they could enjoy together. Those were the circumstances behind my Christmas Chimes, which I am happy to share with you upon request.

Years later, Italian mandolinist Mauro Squillante asked me on short notice whether I had anything on my catalog that could fairly be called "holiday music", as he had embarked on a recording with his ensemble. I did not, but offered to re-orchestrate and revise the above for quartet. Thus my Campanelle was born, which I also share with you, just as happily.

Campanelle was in fact recorded and released as planned, by Mauro and his colleagues. Below are links to the Japanese, and to the French issue of this CD respectively:


http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0095XQMEQ/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=247&creative= 1211&creativeASIN=B0095XQMEQ&linkCode=as2&tag=resp ectreco04-22

http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?pa...mart&Itemid=-1

I hope you enjoy this little piece, in both its guises, and that it makes your upcoming holiday season yet brighter and jollier. If you would care to have the score(s) and part(s), a simple email will suffice; no cost to you whatsoever.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Victor

Many thanks, Victor! I have been playing around with this tune briefly since you kindly sent me the scores on Monday and it's very pleasant. As with many deceptively simple compositions, its very simplicity means that quality and consistency of tone production is vital to get the chime effect right. What it demonstrates to me is that I need to work on my 12th fret harmonics -- the piece requires not only getting them reliably sounding out clear but also that they are matched in volume and tone to the open string notes in the same phrase. Not as easy as it looks!

I'll keep working on it.

Also thanks for the links to Mauro's quartet recording -- the Amazon JP listing plays a 45 second sample of the track. As it's only 1:48 min long in total, that's almost half the tune. The reverb on the recording works really well for the chime effect.

Martin

Thank you, Martin!

Yes, the harmonics require a degree of attention, but I think the musical "return on investment" is worth the trouble. After all, quite honestly... what instrument sounds more beautifully chime-like than the mandolin? :) Can't think of one...

And yes, Mauro and his companions do a lovely job with this little tune. Quite the chiming music-box... :)

Cheers,

Victor

Many thanks Victor
It sounds lovely

Thank you, VM! Glad you liked it :-)

Cheers,

Victor

Very nice piece. Glad to hear it before I head off to work.

Thanks, Shawn!

I, too, like to "prime" my inner ear with music before I head off to work—#and all that cognitive dissonance that that often entails. ;)

Cheers,

Victor

Being a novice music reader I have a hard time keeping the two parts apart in my head; I get lost with all the harmonics. Very excited to struggle learning this piece Victor. Time to get to learning my 5th mandolin song!

And now, thanks to some ~delicate~ diplomacy by Mauro ;) with credits and attribution to composers:

http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?pa...emart&Itemid=0

Cheers,

Victor

Another beautiful piece for this time of the year, Victor, is Carillon, that you made and gave us earlier.

The theme is an old German song, that we are used to sing, also in the Netherlands. It is about Maria, who went through a wood of brambles, that have had no leaves during 7 years. Under her breast she carried the promised child. When she went with the child through it, the thorns had roses.
If you want to read more about: here is a link to a wiki page in German. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_d..._Dornwald_ging


Personally I feel it as comforting, religious or not. If you have hard times, finally you will come through.

I really like to play this piece, as Victor made it, with all the different variations. And I would encourage others to do. Thanks !

Margriet

Thank you for that most poetic review, Margriet! Indeed, it is a lovely, lovely tune— and of course I can take no credit for the theme on which my variations were written. :redface:

Variations, qua formative principle, have been with me since childhood, I suppose... from the charmingly flirtatious song about that dark-skinned Sephardic girl of Diferencias, to the haunting shepherd's chant of my Variations on a Basque melody, to Carillon on Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, to the stately, sublime, gently melancholy-tinged Mein junges Leben "singing" behind my Sweelinck Variations, the underlying melody has never failed to stir and move me, the hidden persona behind those melodies has always lived with me, so to speak.

I am currently busy revising some older organ-works of mine, also holiday-flavored. An artist, formally religious or not, cannot help but be part of the culture he came from. That's just how humans come, "packaged" as it were in their lineage and cultural history.

Cheers, and happy holidays to all!

Victor