Favourite Classical Mandolin Recordings?

[Denman John]

I recently got some i-tunes gift cards and would like to get some recommendations for classical recordings that you enjoy. Some of the artists/musicians I have are Alison Stephens, Avi Avital, Chris Thile, Carlo Aonzo & Katsumi Nagaoka, Caterina Lichtenberg, Joseph Brent ... Looking for something different ... mandolin orchestras? German or Japanese classical?

What would you recommend and thanks in advance

John

[jelhai]

The recording that Gertrud Weyhofen (formerly Tröster) made of the Calace mandolin preludes is one that I listen to repeatedly. I've never heard better performances. The German Thorofon label released it around 20 years ago. I don't know if iTunes lists it.

[Eugene]

Agreed, jelhai. Fantastic. I also like Weyhofen's/Tröster's/Troester's Nakano: Jewels for the Mandolin. More solo recordings worth considering are Sebastiaan de Grebber's Fantasia Romantica and Alison Stephen's Con Espressione. If you can find it, check out Alvina Voznesenskaya's Mandolin Solo: Classical–Modern International. You've already mentioned Thile, John, so you probably don't need to be reminded of his effort to record Bach. Another interesting take on that material is Shmuel Elbaz's.

There are so many others that I also like and listen to often. What about early mandolin? The five by Ensemble Baschenis (The Early Mandolin vols.1, 2, and 3 and The Violin & the Mandolin: Accomplices and Rivals, vols.1 and 2) get frequent plays from my collection. Traicomedia's Capritio: Instrumental Music from 17th Century Italy features Paul O'Dette playing one of the Scarlatti sonatas and the E minor sonata by Arrigoni, my hands-down favorite recording of the latter. The Schneiderman–Yamaya Duo's The Mandolino in 18th-Century Italy features all of the designated mandolino/mandola works from the Dalla Casa manuscript (plus a couple arrangements from same) played punteado (i.e., fingerstyle). Duilio Galfetti's Mandolin & Fortepiano (with piano accompaniment) and Italian Sonatas for Mandoline (with archlute accompaniment) are fantastic. I also like Valentini: Complete Mandolin Sonatas recently released by Pizzicar Galante. I'm quite fond of Richard Walz's recording of classical-era works on early Neapolitan, Works for Mandolin and Fortepiano. Artemandoline take some artistic liberty but are world-class players, and everything they record is worth at least one listen. Also check out Paisiello in Vienna to which Alon Sariel contributed fine mandolin performances. An interesting historic take on early Neapolitan mandolin repertoire is Christian Schneider and Sylvie Pecot-Douatte's Mandoline Galante, but I have no idea how easy it would be to track down.

Regarding orchestral, look into the recordings by Orchestra di mandolini e chitarre "Citta di Brescia"/Quintetto a plettro "R. Calace." I'm especially fond of their two recordings dedicated to Calace's music and Mandolin and Japan. Het Consort's are top notch. A little more obscure, check out Orchestra a Plettro di Breganze's Il Mandolino a Vicenza e Padova, Orquesta de Plectro Torre del Alfiler's Impresión Andaluza, and Orchestra dell'Accademia Internazionale di Mandolino's Mandolin Images.

Then all the duo recordings by Duo Capriccioso; Aonzo and Buttiero; Aonzo and Izquierdo; Lichtenberg's old Duetto Giocondo, a little more recent Duo Galante, and much more recent efforts with Mike Marshall; Duo Ahlert & Schwab; All of Alison Stephens' duo efforts including with Craig Ogden, Duo Mandala, Steven Devine, etc.; Duo Zigiotti–Merlante; lots of output by Ugo Orlandi; lots by Dorina Frati; and Detlef Tewes and Boris-Bjorn Bagger. Tove Flensborg and Kristian Buhl-Mortensen's Duets for Mandolin and Guitar is an interesting take on arrangements of Nordic chamber music.

There are some nice quartet recordings out there too. I quite liked The Uptown Mandolin Quartet's Kansas Tango. Quartetto Colori's Impressioni is worth hearing. Melonious Quartet's Au Sud de la Mandoline is fantastically, virtuosically performed and devoted to repertoire that flirts with the edge between classical composition and folk/popular idioms. The Baltimore Mandolin Quartet Grandmother's Ghost is an old favorite.

Etc. ad infinitum.

[Eugene]

Typographic error alert: I'd intended to refer to Tragicomedia above.

[crisscross]

In addition to Eugene's recommendatons, I want to mention two more guitar/mandolin duos:

-duorecuerda with Jeanette Mozos del Campo on mandolin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjH1Xt_LfU
http://www.duorecuerda.com/

-Duo Consensus with Christian Laier on mandolin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gag-6VxdZDs
http://www.duoconsensus.de/de/start.html

[HonketyHank]

Go to youtube and check out Zi Han Chen. She is very good with classical mandolin and western classical music. And she is excellent with traditional Chinese mandolin-equivalent.


here she is with a few colleagues from the Taiwan Mandolin Ensemble (playing a real mandolin):

[Michael Neverisky]

Modern Mandolin Quartet, Intermezzo

[btrott]

Old pieces (Emmanuel Barbella, mid to 3rd quarter of the 18th c.) on modern instruments, very nicely played. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/skehancollins

Barry

[oldplinker]

Try to find The Toronto Mandolin Orchestra on DVD or CD. Try sampling
them on you tube first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wJLiJrZafo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIZuyOC_LZY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7LEKwegtxQ

info-sme@bellnet.ca
Just tell them "Bill-sent-me"

[Denman John]

Thank you all for the wonderful recommendations!

I downloaded Gertrud Troster's Callace Preludes CD and am very impressed. Her Nakano: Jewels for the Mandolin and Musique pour les fetes galantes also sound great and will be downloaded. While looking at the recommendations you gave, I also came across Duo Galante, Julien Martineau, and Detlef Tewes that caught my ears.

btrott: Being a long time fan of Railroad Earth, I was pleasantly surprised by John Skehan and Todd Collins release. Thanks for the heads up!

One CD that I enjoy and don't think has been mentioned is Telemandolin by Alon Sariel and Concerto Foscari.

Any other recommendations?

[margora]

Hi John,
I am the reviews editor for the Classical Mandolin Society of America's (CMSA) Mandolin Journal. I've been the reviews editor for almost a decade. Over that time I have published in the vicinity of 60+ (probably more, I haven't counted) CD reviews. I also have a series that appears from time to time, "Desert Island Discs" (Gertrud's Calace CD is on it) consisting of retrospectives of particularly important (IMHO) recordings. If you join the CMSA (go to classicalmandolinsociety.org) you get access to the current and past issues of the Journal.