Mandolin music by Victor Kioulaphides on Video

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello Victor and friends,

In the past view months we have been studying and performing quite a bit of Victor's music. And some of it we were able to videotape. Since we like Victor's music a lot, we thought it would be nice if you all could participate in this.

So here is the link to the website of Jan Turkenburg (many thanks as always, mr. Jan!) and the three new videos with


'De Grote Markt' played by Ruth Rouw;


The 'Variations on a Basque Melody' performed by Ferdinand Binnendijk


and the complete


'Concerto per Orchestra a Pizzico' (Sinfonia - Notturno - Rondo finale: Telemanniana.)

by The Mandolin Chamber Orchestra HET CONSORT

performed in the lovely church of Chantes in France during a concert we gave there in Autumn this year.



Many thanks go also to Pauline Ulderink for her double role as Consort member (1st mandolinist) and filmer.


To view the videos click here.


We hope you are able to see the videos on your computer and that you will enjoy the music.


Greetings from Holland to you all!

PS. You will also find some other mandolin videos (Mandolinata and the 3rd movement of the Concerto as performed by Het CONSORT at the première in Groningen (March 2005) in the presence of the composer, Maestro Kioulaphides).


PS II. Photo: the mandolinists Ferdinand & Ruth.

[glauber]

That's cool! Now i want to play those pieces too! Of course it will be years before i can play like your students. Good job.

[Eugene]

Thank you for this Alex...and Victor...and Ruth, Ferdinand, and the whole of Het Consort. It is always inspiring to see skilled young hands and souls making music so sincerely.

[John Craton]

Thanks for sharing these, Alex. I'm sending the link on to one of my young mandolin students as well.

I was so taken by Victor's Basque Variations that I made an arrangement of it for string orchestra. It's not as good as the original, but I simply couldn't help myself. (No one else seems to be able to help me much, either.) If anyone would like to take a look at it, I've posted a Scorch file here. If Victor doesn't object to my further butchering of his excellent material, I'm hoping to arrange some of his other mando works for strings as well whenever time permits.

There's nothing like the originals, though, and I'm grateful to be able to listen to (and view) these wonderful performances.

(When do we get to see a video of Victor playing? )

[John Goodin]

I was only able to watch/hear young master Binnendijk's performance but it was inspiring. The video work was perfect for the piece. Thanks a million for sharing.

John G.

[vkioulaphides]

For once, I am at a loss for words... The playing is uniformly so excellent, and the kindness and interest that Alex and Het Consort (collectively and individually) have shown my music is truly overwhelming. I cannot thank them enough, congratulate them enough, or say enough of how I feel.

So, for once, I will be brief. #

Bravi, bravissimi!

[margora]

The performance of the concerto is excellent. The Providence Mandolin Orchestra will be performing this piece in late February (in Providence). I will post a notice at the appropriate time.

[vkioulaphides]

On second thought, I would hate to be accused of verbal stinginess. #

Ruth is a wonderfully sensitive player, always "in tune" with the character of whatever piece she is playing.

Ferdinand is quite the young folk-lutenist-at-heart, perfectly capturing the improvisatory character of the variations.

And as for Alex and the Consort, well, they are simply superlative. The time and effort they have invested in the Concerto is truly remarkable; the reward, of course, is that the actual performance is a gem! All the transitions are worked out expertly, all the textures shimmer through, all the ad hoc soloists get to shine, as supported by their colleagues. After all, this IS a concerto for EVERY member/section of the ensemble...

This all makes me believe that the composer is a most fortunate fellow: the writing is long finished; yet, the piece has matured so beautifully since I first heard it last March in Groningen.

Tutti bravi! again.

Victor

P.S. I got totally immersed in the magical sonority of all those bass-instrument solos in the 2nd movement, greatly enhanced as they were by the warm acoustics of the church... Lovely!

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello all,

Many thanks for all the nice comments. It is just fantastic to share all this with you all here!

We have something very special here at this board; mandolin players, mandolin composer(s), arrangers (thanks Operaguy for adding your setting of Victor´s variations for strings (I like them and will surely give the score a try with our Embergher mandolin quartet and ask my wife to take part in it on the Chitarrone moderno), listeners and #even a music editor (many thanks Jim, for creating the special web-page with Victor´s music; the link (http://www.paperclipdesign.com) is known, even in Germany, as I notiched at the "Diskussionsforum", a Webpage of the German Mandolin Organisation!)

It is all very inspiring!


It´s not likely to happen but I would - and I think quite a number of the other CONSORT members - love to come over to you and hear the American première of Victor´s ´Concerto a Pizzico´ by The Providence Mandolin Orchestra in Providence. Please keep us informed Margora! And of course if there is somekind of recording available afterwards, let me know.

I will keep you all updated; there are still some pieces by our own ´Kapelmeister´ to be recorded...

Again many thanks and best greetings,

Alex

[margora]

Alex, perhaps the PMO can, at some point, make a trip to Europe. Then we can do a joint performance of the piece. Don't know yet about a recording, but there might be some type. Incidentally, the PMO will be releasing a CD very soon, with performances of Kuwahara, Mandonico, Kalberer, Barroso, and C. Assad.

[Mark Levesque]

Bravo to all!

What a treat to see these videos.
Alex, I can't believe what a great job you are doing over there with your students, and how inspired they are to perform. Congratulations.
Victor, thank you for these wonderful compositions.

Cheers,
Mark

[vkioulaphides]

I, for one, will definitely attend the U.S. premiere in Providence; I was fortunate to have discussed this in advance with the PMO's Director, Mark Davis, and cleared my, ehm... operatic schedule accordingly.

Ironically, and although Providence is a mere 4-hr drive from New York, I will STILL be wretchedly jet-lagged, as I will have just come back from a trip to Athens, via Amsterdam— alas, Alex, I at least tried to extend my stay in fair Holland an extra day: "close, but no cigar". Oh, well... next time.

Speaking of recordings: sneakily enough, I have timed all 6 of my Quartetti Classici to fit in 1 CD; now all I need is a grant, a quartet, and a label. But that, of course, belongs to that other thread...

Cheers, congratulations, and boundless gratitude to all.

Victor

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello Margora,

That would be great! Do let me know when that will be; organising a concert is certainly possible and we could for instance make a nice programme with performances of both our orchestras and a last, 3rd section, with a joined orchestra.


Best,

Alex

PS. The programme of your 'to be released CD' looks very interesting. Keep us updated.

[vkioulaphides]

I was delighted to notice that the three videos are being picked up by all sorts of folk music weblogs; I am equally delighted (and a bit relieved, I must admit) to not be branded "modern", "contemporary", or "serious", things that can only put people off. An honor, to be a folkie...

Countless more congratulations to Alex, Ferdinand, and Ruth (listed thus only alphabetically ) I am getting a HUGE volume of correspondence on account of those videos. Especially encouraging is the fact that, having seen and heard Ruth and Ferdinand, many mandolinists wish to actually try playing those pieces themselves. An ENORMOUS cultural step forwards, to steer the passive viewer/listener to an active, participatory enjoyment of music.

It is nice to see a little tune like De Grote Markt, jotted down in composer-chickenscratch, on airline stationery, on the flight back from Amsterdam to New York, get this much attention. Its Japanese premiere, by Tamara Volskaya, was stupendous— mostly due to the performer. The Japanese audience, wholly unaware of Groningen and the Martini Tower, had no difficulty visualizing the bells, chiming in the mandolin's crystalline harmonics. And Ruth does such a lovely, sensitive job of capturing the stillness of the moment, a true Dutch "still nature" painting...

I am gettting carried away. Sorry, folks. Too much happiness leads to a bubbling, effusive verbiage that few care to read.

Credit goes to the performers!

[jasona]

Bravo Victor and Alex! I really enjoyed the videos, and found the full mandolin orchestra haunting in the warm acoustics of that church. Marvelous!

[Jim Garber]

Thanks so much to both Victor and Alex for sharing his music and for introducing us to these new talents.

Jim

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello all,

Jan, our special video agent, managed to instal a square screen and a better quality of the videos. #
It might take a few minutes more to download, but we thought it would be much better this way.

Especially Windows Media works great!


Therefore
here again the link to the videos. #


Best,

Alex

[Margriet]

A forgotten thread of 6 1/2 years ago.

A concert of 1 1/2 year ago.

Beautiful ! Can't get enough.

Three videos allowed here. Last movement in a new post.

Margriet

[Margriet]

error, failure....

[Margriet]

Here is the last movement of Sinfonia a pizzico.

[Tavy]

Thanks for posting those Margriet - I enjoyed listening to those!

[vkioulaphides]

Thanks, Margriet!

Indeed, my Sinfonia a pizzico is my magnum opus for plucked orchestra, and one I will (probably) never surpass. As such, it is a bit of a "limited edition" issue, insofar as a precious few ensembles could, or even would consider this enormous an undertaking as a fully-fledged, four-movement Romantic symphony— no excuses, no apologies, no holds barred.

Then again, the fine musicians of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, under the expert leadership of my friend Maestro Mark Davis have proven me happily wrong, as they gave a fine performance of this most demanding work at last year's CMSA convention.

So, perhaps, with the ever rising caliber of mandolin-playing, there will in fact be plucked orchestras capable of tackling such a daunting task.

For now, I will cherish the glowing past performance-history this composition has enjoyed. I couldn't be happier.

Cheers to one and all,

Victor