Resphighi Feste Romane Solo

[lucinamarie]

Hi, I'm new to the forum (as well as to the mandolin) and am needing to learn the Respighi Feste Romane solo. Does anybody have a recording of their playing that they would like to share with me? I'm about to download some orchestral performances from iTunes, but was hoping that someone had recorded themselves playing just the solo.

I have been dabbling with mandolin for a couple of years and haven't learned some of the basic stuff (like the tremolo picking). Does one apply that technique to all of longer notes in the Respighi? What about starting in the 3rd bar after 24 with the eighth notes, what about the dotted sixteenths? I have until August before I have to play this but really want to get started working on the techniques.

Also, I could use a couple of suggestions for fingerings the 5 bars before 25. Utilize those open strings or be all in one position?

One more thing, I would love to take a lesson from a classical mandolin player that has orchestral experience. I live in Birmingham, Alabama, but will be traveling through Dallas, Oklahoma City and Denver in mid/late June and could arrange a lesson then. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much, Lucina

[vkioulaphides]

Lucina...? Might you be THE Lucina I know— as in violist, as in Alabama Symphony, Aspen, Juilliard, etc.? This is Victor— as in bass-player. If so, that would be a most delightful coincidence; if not, my humble apologies.

Yes, tremolo is the standard technique for that excerpt. I will look at it more carefully. By yet another remarkable coincidence, this piece is on my daughter's "listening list"; the CD is sitting right on her desk as I write this note. (She expressed the curiosity, "What else did Respighi write?" since she was first enthralled with the clip from Pines of Rome in Fantasia 2000.)

If you have the music already, please scan it and email it to me as an attachment; if you are the one I think you are, you have my address. I should then be able to offer you some practical suggestions regarding fingering, etc. On the other hand, there are several, professional-grade mandolinists on this forum (i.e. much unlike Hack Me ) who might be able to give you far more expert advice than I ever could.

Welcome aboard!

Cheers,

Victor

[Tom Wright]

I have to believe Riccardo Muti will get around to programming this piece, so I would be interested in a CD recommendation, as well. I will check our library and "overlook" the part.

[vkioulaphides]

BINGO! Lucina, Tom would be the perfect person to help you in this connection; I defer to him, with unconditional confidence in his expertise.

As for recordings, you know... what you hear a mandolin do on a studio-take is miles apart from what you hear in an actual, live performance of the same piece. But of course you know all that...

My daughter is listening to the recording by Mariss Jansons, conducting the Oslo Philharmonic. I must listen to it myself, however, before I give it the appropriate thumbs up/down, to the best of my judgment.

Cheers,

Victor

[Tom Wright]

Found the passage on a score in our library. If the tempo is very slow, I agree you could simply tremolo constantly.

For the F flat arpeggio, I would use open strings.

[mrmando]

Sigh ... Why don't orchestras hire mandolinists when they need them?

I came to the mandolin from the viola too ... but it took quite a while to learn about right-hand technique and tone production. Nothing against Lucina, indeed ... it just seems that the instrument and the people who specialize in it don't get any respect ...

On the other hand, I don't suppose the Birmingham yellow pages are exactly crammed with classical mandolinists.

OK, rant mode off. In Denver, look up Charlie Provenza for a lesson. Not sure about Dallas or OKC.

[mrmando]

For the F flat arpeggio, I would use open strings.

I'm not looking at the score, so this may be a dumb observation, but I can think of only one open string that belongs in an F flat arpeggio.

[Tom Wright]

True that only F flat is an open string, I meant the few measures where that occurs in one of the arpeggios.

In our orchestra it saves some money to not hire outside players, and few mandolin players are familiar with orchestral tempo and ensemble issues, how we respond to conductors.

[vkioulaphides]

For the record, I avail myself of the low F-flat on my bass on a regular basis.

Cheers,

Victor

[mrmando]

Good points, Tom ... these days most orchestras are struggling to pay their regulars, let alone bring in any hired guns. After all, picking up some mandolin technique may help Lucina get a few extra gigs anytime someone's doing Don Giovanni, the Mahler 7, et al.

Tom, are you the go-to mandolin guy for the CSO now? Jory Noble now lives in Seattle, but I heard she had a gig at Carnegie Hall a few weeks back; I thought it was with the CSO...

[mrmando]

For the record, I avail myself of the low F-flat on my bass on a regular basis.

You need one of those extensions so you can get the D double-flat!

[vkioulaphides]

You need one of those extensions so you can get the D double-flat!

Oh, I do have one! As a matter of fact, I was just whacking the daylights out of that contra-D-double-flat at the end of St. Matthew Passion, only weeks ago... (Of course Bach, in his wretched ignorance of ~true~ spelling, called it rather mundanely a plain, old C. *tsk, tsk*)

Now, if only I could attach some nifty Shift-o-Mator™ on my mandolin, so I can play everything in first position, I'd really be in business!

Cheers,

Victor

[Tom Wright]

...Jory Noble now lives in Seattle, but I heard she had a gig at Carnegie Hall a few weeks back...

Yes, Jory joined me and four other players to do Otello for Muti. Since I'm in-house I have played it a couple of times here but Muti wanted a group not a single---he used 18 for La Scala!

[lucinamarie]

Ok, I have rejoined the rest of the world after just barely surviving our festival of all 9 Beethoven Symphonies in 2 weeks (and I didn't even have to play one of the concerts with 3 of the symphonies on it!).

I have had a little time to look at the score pages, look at the part (send the part to Victor, who I do know from many years ago!), listen to some recordings and practice a little.

In the first solo, which is approximately 12 bars rather exposed, the first 3 bars of each 4 bar phrase is a dotted 16th and 32nd note followed by 2 eighth notes in a slow Andante tempo. In one recording I heard, the mandolin player does tremolo on everything. In another, they only do tremolo on the last eighth note of the bar. It sounded better (I thought) to have tremolo continuous throughout the bar.

So, in the F Major arpeggio bars, using the open A string is preferable to being in "2nd position"? In terms of picking technique for those bars, would the 32nd note triplets be most appropriately done up,down,up and then down to start the tremolo on the long note?

Actually, this piece is going to be performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, WY in August. There are probably several mandolin players in town there, but none of them has any orchestral experience so that our personnel manager felt that it would be preferable to have one of us double on it since we are familiar with playing in an orchestra. I got elected because I seem to be the most advanced mandolin player that actually owns one (Gibson 1923 A Style). I've actually been dabbling with the mandolin for about 4 years now and can play several Bach pieces moderately well, though I have only had one formal lesson. I have gotten tips from various friends and have read a bit about technique, so I hope that I will be able to put it all together in the next couple of months.

It is sad, but there are apparently NO classical mandolin players in the Birmingham area, thus, I will follow up on the lead of taking a lesson while I am passing through Denver on my way up to Wyoming.

Thanks for the help! Lucina

[lucinamarie]

Also, those of you that have played it with symphony orchestra, has it needed amplification? I know how quiet the mandolin can be despite the fact that the scoring is quite thin at that point. I assume I'll be playing it from the middle (or back) of the viola section. Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village is a small, but nicely resonant hall. The hall apparently seats about 750 people.

Lucina

[Bruce Clausen]

It's a small hall, but a very large orchestra, and you don't want to give the impression of belting out for all you're worth what is really a peaceful little tune, a calm between storms. Yet if the dynamic contrast is too great, no one will hear you. That's where mics are valuable— your mp can be heard as an mp and not a pppp. But fortunately amplification isn't normally the player's choice. Probably the conductor or someone else will make a decision after the first rehearsal. Good luck!

[John Goodin]

Lucina,

Doug Back lives and teaches down in Montgomery, AL. You might want to contact him. He's been involved with the CMSA for years and does marvelous work with his Fretworks middle school plucked string orchestra. You can find his contact info at douglasback.com.

John G.

[vkioulaphides]

...send the part to Victor, who I do know from many years ago!

Yes, how absolutely lovely, running into an old friend at the Café!

For the record, Lucina is a class-A1+ violist, Juilliard-trained, fellow-Aspenite, and seasoned orchestral pro. So we should be happy to have her try her hand at symphonic mandolin-playing. This is a charming excerpt, and a highly memorable one. I performed this piece —playing bass, that is, not mandolin— with Colorado Philharmonic and, earlier yet, on a late-night, outdoor concert in Italy. MAGICAL! An effect that only the mandolin can create!

Cheers,

Victor

[Tom Wright]

I had our library copy off the mandolin section from our score---we don't own a set of parts. I'll have time Sunday to try it out and offer my take. It seems an important part, and probably should attempt a sort of flowing, relaxed tremolo. But you will probably get neither advice nor complaint however you approach it, since Neopolitan mandolin mavens will likely be in short supply.

I will add this to my rep, since it seems reasonable to think an Italian conductor might like to include it on a program. We have already done the more popular Pines of Rome with Muti.

[Tom Wright]

Having looked at the part I'll recommend constant tremolo in the main melody. At the marked tempo that should be comfortable.

For the 32nd note triplet arpeggios, I would hammer on the second note, so that you arrive downstroke on the high note and a comfortable tremolo start. So fingering will be starting on 1 for all of them.

I think audibility is not going to be a problem, certainly not in the beginning. You can be free to float and not have to dig, to get going.

Hint from experience---put down the viola way early, and warm up your tremolo discreetly (muting the strings with your palm, for example) in the louder moments before the music gets to your spot. Better yet, lobby for a dedicated location and escape from the viola section for the whole piece. You are an important melodic statement, worth highlighting.

[chrisbsc]

I am curious about this piece. Can someone tell me is what part the mandolin solo appears?

[SincereCorgi]

I am curious about this piece. Can someone tell me is what part the mandolin solo appears?

Mandolin kicks in at about 4:00 in this, the third movement. I don't have a score handy or I'd try to give you a rehearsal mark or something.

[mrmando]

Mandolin part sounds juicy but not terribly hard!

Does anyone have a PDF of the mandolin part? I've just been asked to play it with a local orchestra.