Prairie Spring

  1. crisscross
    crisscross
    Another beautiful slow waltz by Jay and Molly, but this one is less obscure then The Alpenhorn.It's included on the CD Harvest Home and you can find the sheet music here: http://jayandmolly.com/fiddler-magazine/
    After a Rubato introduction, the song is played by two fiddles, but I leave multi-instrument recordings to Martin, who is a true master of it, and recorded just the first fiddle melody on my mandolin, playing A Tempo from the beginning:
  2. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Very good, and I am not missing anything fancy.

    One interesting thing is Jay&Molly's album cover, which appears to be painted by Robin Moline, following the landscape style of Grant Wood (forever immortal through the American Gothic couple), but with more modern details.

  3. crisscross
    crisscross
    Thanks Bertram and thanks for the landscape painting!
  4. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Great album which I have on vinyl. Always wondered about the artwork. Thanks Bertram.

    Nicely played crisscross!
  5. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    I think Jay and Molly would be pleased to hear all your tunes from their book. So nice to listen to.
  6. crisscross
    crisscross
    Thanks Ginny and Michael!
    (For a change, I'm working on a tune, that was written by someone else. But Jay and Molly played it...)
  7. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Great find, Criss, and lovely recording! I was not previously familiar with the tune, but I can't let a challenge like this go by:

    "After a Rubato introduction, the song is played by two fiddles, but I leave multi-instrument recordings to Martin, who is a true master of it, and recorded just the first fiddle melody on my mandolin, playing A Tempo from the beginning"

    So, here is my recording, complete with rubato introduction and second mandolin part, using the PDF score from Jay & Molly's homepage:

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    1921 Gibson A-Jr mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin
  8. crisscross
    crisscross
    WOW! Great recording,Martin. I knew, you wouldn't disappoint me.
  9. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    That second mandolin part is especially daring and exactly right, Martin.
    I wondered about this rubato thing - I always considered rubato as being not only slower, but totally out of the time of the core tune. But it does not have to be like that, apparently. Listening to Jay&Molly's original recording, I found it's not that extreme either, though the general gist reminded me of the intro of this film score.
  10. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Criss and Bertram. The daring second mandolin part is all Jay & Molly's -- I like the way the two parts weave around each other, swapping melody and arpeggio triplet runs.

    I wasn't to sure how to deal with the "rubato first time" marking in the score either, so I listened to the original recording for clues. Generally "rubato" doesn't necessarily mean slower, although it's usually used in slower passages, but "freely" and with timing varied for effect and expression. The way I did it was to play the opening without accompaniment or count-in (adding gentle chords later), with the strict tempo waltz rhythm only coming in on the repeat. As it happens, my inner metronome pretty much kept time anyway so it's not particuarly varied or rubato, but the thought counts...

    Martin
  11. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    That’s a truly nice piece of music by Jay and Molly. And so masterly played by both of you, Chris and Martin. To produce such a clean multitrack recording of a complex arrangement within only four days is a good demonstration of your skills, Martin.
  12. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Really nice, in both versions.
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