Your family duo is such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing your music here. I'd love to be able to play with your effortless assurance.
Thanks, everyone! Your comments are very humbling and much appreciated!
Anton Reidinger (1884): Es wird scho glei dumpa (It will be dark soon) Arranged for mandolin quartet by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni (2018) This is a popular Austrian Christmas carol. My instrumental recording for mandolin quartet (two mandolins, tenor guitar and mandocello) is based on an arrangement from Evelyn's fifth(!) annual collection of Christmas/winter tunes, posted on the Cafe here: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/threads/142518 Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin 1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin Suzuki MC-815 mandocello Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Martin
Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewie I saw Jona Lewie several Times in the early '70s when he was plain old John Lewis playing piano with Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts.
Thanks to all of you for bringing us in Christmas mood.
Thanks Maudlin and Martin, I appreciate being introduced to new-to-me Christmas and winter music. Well played. Maudlin -- singing in SAW is always a bonus! I wish more folks here did that (and no, I haven't.)
Only my second video in 2018! And I don't think I'll manage a third, either.
Whoa Dennis, what a shamelessly patriotic display contrasting an utterly pastoral rendition
Nice playing, nice visual setting, and nice pairing of two tunes. You are ahead of me by only 2 videos this year
This was fun to figure out!
Wow, that was nice!
Thank you Kay, you're very kind! I didn't mention that no six-strings were hurt or abused in this video - the electric is a tenor, tuned CGDA (well, CGD, as I broke the A while recording).
Nice job, everyone! Here's one not often heard on the mandolin but a lotta fun to play! One that Bing Crosby made famous back in the day - "Mele Kalkimaka." Hope you enjoy
Good stuff, ghall!
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Semplice and tasteful.
Time to revive this hallowed thread for the 2019 season, with the most hallowed carol of them all. Silent Night (Stille nacht) This arrangement of Silent Night for a trio of two mandolins and guitar was orginally published in the December 1938 editions of the BMG Magazine. It was subsequently reprinted in the 1975 book "A Variety of Mandolin Music", which was a collection of old BMG Magazine pieces. Nigel Gatherer has got a mandolin tab version of this arrangement on his website (although it misses the guitar part): http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab8/sn1.html 1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2) Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Martin
I've been wanting to learn this one for a while, so finally took some time to figure it out. Actually found some tabs from the Cafe here that had a three-part mandolin harmony, we were just a mandolin short Here's a link to the tabs. https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...-Mandolin-trio Daughter is playing a Red Diamond A-5, I'm playing a Red Valley A flat top.
Great tune and playing, GHall. We have been playing "Carol Of The Bells" with our weekly mandolin group for a couple of years, using Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni's arrangement which is very effective. I was sure I had recorded and uploaded it already, but it seems not -- something to do before Christmas. Martin
Carols from the world Mandola or Tenor Guitar or Ukecello Still, still, still (Austrian carol); Narodil se Kristus Pan (Czech carol); Vstavajte, pastieri, berte sa hor (Slovak carol); Deck The Halls (Welsh carol); Away In A Manger (English carol); Adeste Fideles (Latin carol) Mandolin O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Music: L. H. Redner); I Saw Three Ships (English carol); Co se stalo, prihodilo (Moravian carol)
Nice crosspicking! I've never mastered that myself.
Well played Ondrej. Thanks for sharing these tunes, it’s nice to hear such a diverse selection.
Gelsenbury and Simon DS thank you! Ondrej
Recorded some tunes today and thought, ‘I’m sure I’ve done this one before (on the Wren/Bear dance set)’. Such is old age. Now I remember why I recorded it. It’s because it’s a winter or Christmas tune, so here’s The Wren on it’s own. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_Day
Very nice Simon. You have inspired me to learn this tune.
Nice compilation of Christmas tunes for 2019 till now.
Thanks Robert and Frithjof, yes the wren is a wonderful bird, very tame (for good reason) and one of the very few birds who sing in the winter. I imagine people living through long, dark and cold medieval winters with their only source of entertainment feeding a bird that nests next to the warm chimney and sings happily in their cottage all through until spring. Better than television.
First time I watch this thread and already five nice contributions! I also have an idea for a Christmas tune I could play, but I'm not sure I'll manage to learn and record it until Christmas...
That's what I did when there was some time between the last tutorials of the semester and the staff Christmas dinner. That arrangement of Carol of the Bells is very nice and easy to play.
Nice work Dennis! I really like the sound and the looks of your mandolin, but I suppose, it's no Gibson A4. My Christmas Carol this year is a song, that has been performed by musicians as diverse as Miles Davis and Mario Lanza, Dolly Parton and Roberta Flack, just to name a few. I must confess, I like the version of George Strait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ-4NU3seQA I wanted to do something similar, but playing neither fiddle nor pedal steel guitar, the only way to countrify my sound a little, was to do the backup in flatpicking fashion. Well, being an absolute beginner in that way of playing accompaniment, I had some problems. They probably wouldn't hire me as a session player in Nashville...
One of my favourite carols! Nicely played, and nothing wrong with the backup.
I'll add a record for the bouzouki. Away In A Manger (English carol); Byla cesta, byla uslapana (Moravian carol); I Saw Three Ships (English carol); Un Flambeau (Provencal carol); Vstavajte, pastieri, berte sa hor (Slovak carol)
Lots of great new Christmas recordings this year -- all sounding great! As promised in my posting last week (by now several messages up in this thread), I have now also recorded "Carol Of The Bells" in the arrangement that we play with our mandolin group. Mykola Leontovych (1916): Shchedryk (Carol of the Bells) This famous Christmas carol started out as an adaptation of a Ukrainian folk tune. It was adapted for Christmas with new English lyrics in the 1930s. This arrangement for mandolin quartet is by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, and played in her memory. Available as free download as part of Evelyn's first (of five) annual "Winter's Tale" collection of tunes: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...nes-for-winter 1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2) Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Martin
Sounds wonderful Martin! I didn't know this song is from Ukraine, so I searched for Shchedryk on Youtube and found some ukrainian versions, for example this a-capella version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UmvUy1LziE But the mandolin quartett sounds even better to my ears. The Vinaccia mandolin has a very good sound... I don't think I'll find the time to arrange and practice two Christmas Carols this year, so I rearranged We three kings, the melody of which I already know how to play. My first version was rather folksy, with a strummed steel string guitar and an F-hole Mandolin, now I tried to record something more in the classical mood: a fingerpicked classical guitar and a bowlback mandolin:
No tune this time, but the best wishes for the holidays and a totally interesting new year from Regina and myself! This goes out especially to the small circle of friends here who brought music, meetings and miscellaneous miracles into each other's life.
Thanks for all of your music from 2019, I’ve really enjoyed listening to each and every new posting. Thanks especially for all of the optimistic, positive and encouraging comments, and I know that for some of us it has been a hard year. Kind thoughts to you. I’m really happy with my progression with the mandolin this year and a large part of it again is thanks to you gentlemen/women. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and year 2020 full of wonder, peace... Really looking forward to hearing you playing in the New Year and news or photos of the snow (or even rain) Simon
Thanks Simon. I was trying to add a photo here but am having difficulty. I wish a Happy Christmas for all and am thankful for all of your comments and videos. C U on the flip side of 2020.
And a happy Christmas and a prosperous and musically enjoyable 2020 to all of our great posters and lurkers who have supported this great group for so long. A true Scottish wish for all of you.
I'll add a record for the Tres Cubano. Carols: Stille Nacht (Music: F. X. Gruber); Away In A Manger (English carol); O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Music: L. H. Redner); We Wish You a Merry Christmas (English carol)
Here's ours for 2020, this most unusual and unreal Christmas I've had in decades. Symbols of comfort are becoming more important. Let us all hold fast. Featuring two verses in English, one in German, a tin of German home-made cookies (enable them on your browser) and a traditional Scottish oaten bannock.
Thank you, Bertram and Regina! Wunderschön gespielt und in Szene gesetzt. I'm now getting into the Christmas mood, thanks to you. I miss Germany terribly this year because several visits have been cancelled because of Corona. I've never spent so long without a visit home, and we were hoping for Christmas for a long time. If that's your house in the video, it's a very nice house and makes me feel "homesick" in some way, too!
Yes Dennis, that's our home, and Regina sees to it that it is the place to be.
The first carol for this strange year, a true classic, but executed extraordinarily well with Regina's fine voice and the flute melody! And don't forget the superb octave mandolin accompaniment.
Lovely seasonal offering from the Henzes. Regina, you render this so well and in two languages, and your flute solo is beautiful!
Thanks gents, and Regards from Regina.
Beautifully done Bertram (and Regina) it’s nice to hear singing too.
Away in Manger does seem to exist with two different melodies: the Version Mueller composed by James Ramsey Murray has a downward melodic movement. the Cradle Version composed by William James Kirkpatrick has an upward movement. On YT, most performers play the downward version, but Emmylou and me, we prefer upward movements...
Nice playing CC, sounds good with swing too, I guess you’re talking about your cat?
Thank you Christian, and everyone else who has contributed to this thread over the years. It always brings back the Christmas spirit.
Suitably uplifting, and in the right spirit, Christian. Hope we all have the best Christmas we can manage, however we manage it!
