Vessel Mandolin at Carnegie Hall

[testore]

Just a short notice. If any of you are in New York City on the 7th of November enjoy a performance by the Atlanta Symphony. They're playing a Stravinsky piece(unfamiliar to me) with mandolin. One of the first violinists is a client of my best friend and he asked if I'd loan the orchestra one to use(my personal Monteleone model). So there you have it. If anyone attends I'd love a review.
Gary

[OldGrapePat]

Sounds like a great opportunity for one of your mandos to be played at Carnegie Hall. Wow. On the other hand, I'm scratching my head as to how they could be booked at Carnegie Hall to play a mandolin piece, but had to borrow a mandolin ? Congrats to you.

[sunburst]

That's pretty cool, Gary. Are they recording and will you get a copy?

[BradKlein]

Originally Posted by OldGrapePat

I'm scratching my head as to how they could be booked at Carnegie Hall to play a mandolin piece, but had to borrow a mandolin ?.

That's a puzzler, alright!

Yo-yo Ma is the cellist, and I'm guessing that he'll bring his own instrument.
Details of the concert, HERE.

And here is a description of the opera, which I am not familiar with, by Robert Craft:

"Stravinskys orchestral palette, different and distinctive in every work, is never more exotically colourful than in The Nightingale, which is a virtual catalogue of avian imitations: tremolos, trills, appoggiaturas, gruppetti, string harmonics, pizzicato glissandos, flautando and ponticello effects, harp and piano arpeggios, harp harmonics, and the retuning of cello strings to produce harmonics on unusual pitches. The voice of Death is introduced by four icy high notes in the celesta, and Deaths aria is accompanied by the strangulated sound of a cello playing a double appoggiatura on the bridge of the instrument in a high register.

After vanquishing Death in their vocal duel for the Emperors life, the Nightingale sweetly sings to him accompanied by mandolin and guitar. In the Chinese March, the mandolin doubling the soft melody of the trumpet is a previously unheard instrumental colour, and the percussion effects explore a greater range than in any other Stravinsky work except Les Noces. "

[testore]

Well, The violinist told me that the orchestra rented a mandolin from a local source for their performance in Atlanta but felt that it wasn't set up well enough for a performance at Carnegie Hall. Nobody,including the symphony, owns a mandolin. I'd like to have a recording or photos if they are done, I don't know. I have had a few of my orchestral instruments played there but this is a first for one of my fretted ones. I'll post pics if they get to me.

[EdHanrahan]

Yeah but... Doesn't a mandolin, borrowed or not, need a PLAYER? Like, maybe someone who has an old Harmony or Kay knocking around at home? I guess if the score calls for just a few notes on, say, and open E string, the guy that plays triangle could handle it.

AH-HA!! I'll bet that any pro violinist, given the years of experience and the addition of frets to the violin fingerboard, could probably pick out almost any mandolin tune better than, uhmm, I can!

[walt33]

Originally Posted by EdHanrahan

AH-HA!! I'll bet that any pro violinist, given the years of experience and the addition of frets to the violin fingerboard, could probably pick out almost any mandolin tune. . .

Maybe, maybe not . . . my old girlfriend played violin for years, and she was really thrown for a loop when she tried my mando. I think the whole idea of picking was her biggest obstacle, not so much the left hand.

Walt

[testore]

I think he can actually play. Like I said, I don't know the piece but I think he's authentic. He's from Mexico so it isn't unlikely that he actually learned classical mandolin while in school. It isn't going to be recorded so we'll never know, unless one of you in N.Y can make the show.

[Bruce Clausen]

Ed H. is roughly right. I don't know this piece, but sometimes orchestral mandolin parts are extremely easy technically, but require a seasoned orchestra player to bring them off. So often it will be a member of the violin section that plays the part. There is also an economy for the orchestra involved in paying an orchestra member an extra fee for playing a second instrument (50% of union scale where I live) as opposed to bringing in another player at a full fee. This solution is especially attractive in those pieces by Mahler, Respighi and others where the mandolin is only needed for 90 seconds or so. Congratulations, Gary!

BC