Search:

Dear mandolin friends around the world,

Before we break for the summer, one final, musical gift. My esteemed friend, Dutch mandolinist and pedagogue Alex Timmerman did me the honor of performing...

Dear mandolin friends around the world,

exactly two years ago, with New York City the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, I did what seemed to be the only reasonable thing to do at that moment:...

You are very welcome, Jim. This isn't what anyone would consider a "difficult" piece to play and of course there's plenty of leeway in tempo, articulations, the breaking of all those chords. Ideally,...

Dear mandolinist friends around the world,

what a year this has been! Looking back at the time that has elapsed since last spring, it may at first seem interminable. To put this ordeal in some...

I neglected to mention that the score of this composition, like all my works for unaccompanied mandolin, is readily available as a free download from the site of our venerable James Garber of...

Dear mando-kin around the world,

I hope that you and yours are all well despite these dreadful times that we are traversing. "This too shall come to pass" never sounded more optimistic; we must...

I have no acquaintance with the family that owns these instruments but, from the granddaughter's account of her grandmother, I do get a sense of a life of luxury and leisure. On that account, she...

Strange beasts indeed, Jim. :confused: They do seem to have a few frets but, as you say, it's hard to tell whether they are fixed frets— making them "Western" instruments for lack of a better word—...

Greetings, all.

This truly goes under "asking for a friend". ;) I have neither direct acquaintance with the owner of these instruments nor any business interest in them. My only understanding is...

Got mongrel alright, not much technique. :))

I play primarily a modern Calace. Yes, I own a lovely Embergher but I have never gotten totally comfortable on an arched fingerboard; my padded,...

No need to kill off those poor tortoises. The synthetic materials that Jim and others have experimented with are just fine IMHO— always with some variance for taste, needless to say. All my Ranieri...

What fond memories! Ralf's home in Antwerp is a veritable museum. Down the street there's even a restaurant appropriately called The Seventh Heaven... :)

Alex had first chosen to post his performance on the mandoliola but, despite his usual modesty, I prevailed upon him to also post his reading of this score on the mandolin, a performance that I...

Thanks, Rob! Alex sure plays this little piece like an angel. :)

This piece was played by all those countless youngsters who competed at Bergamo and I sure hope it wasn't worse for the wear...

Dear mandolinist friends around the world,

I hope you and yours are staying healthy and happy during these difficult times. The consolations of music have never been more precious or more sorely...

Hello, old friend. :) Glad you enjoyed it. If consensus is Elgar, Elgar it is. ;) I do admire his music and its fabled, expansive "Englishness"— whatever that means.

Yes, arrangement is...

Happy to see this piece mature so beautifully in the hands of such fantastic artists as Ferdinand and Het Consort. A huge round of applause to them all! :)

...

Very nice, Toomas. :)

I'd love to look around Estonia next time I'm there, get a better feel of everything that's around. I was there a couple of years ago for the revival of one of my operas in...

Dear mandolin friends around the world,

I hope 2020 brings you success in all your endeavors. For me, the year has started with the warm afterglow of a performance of my little Idillio Sinfonico...

Dear mandolin friends around the world,

I am honored and delighted that the Concorso Musicale per Strumenti a Pizzico Estudiantina Bergamasca will be once again featuring my work The Song Inside...

Dear mandolin friends worldwide,

I am pleased and honored to share with you a recording from the recent premiere of Under the Northern Star, a symphonic work of mine for plucked orchestra,...

Happy to see good old friends on this thread... :)

Noise under the ear isn't necessarily noise in the audience. Bratsche and I are fellow bowed-string players by profession and have lived forever...

I believe that some folks who play "German type" bowlbacks use flat-wound Dogals; I have no experience to report on. I tend to associate flat-wound metal strings with bowed instruments, where the...

Very happy to hear all that, Jim. Audio/video records are always welcome, of course, but the ultimate bottom line, what really matters in the end, is whether people enjoyed the musical experience....

:redface: Needless to say, there's more to come. :)