Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831): Allegro-Romanze-Rondo

[Martin Jonas]

Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831): Allegro-Romanze-Rondo
From a violin duo in F major (B.541, Op. 8, No. 4)
Arranged for mandolin orchestra by Ernst Lindenberg

I. Allegro 0:00
II. Romanze - Andante 3:10
III. Rondo - Allegretto 4:50

Ignaz Pleyel was one of the most popular composers of his day, but is now mainly remembered as a piano builder and the founder of Pleyel & Cie.

This suite of three movements was written as a violin duo, the fourth in a collection of six which is on IMSLP:

http://imslp.org/wiki/6_Duos,_B.538-...eyel,_Ignaz%29

This arrangement for plucked orchestra is by Ernst Lindenberg, published c. 1950s by Hofmeister in Leipzig. I have adapted it to a mandolin quartet for my recording.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



I noticed only after recording my own version that I'm going directly up against Alex Timmerman and his Embergher Quartet, who also adapted Lindenberg's arrangement of this piece to a mandolin quartet and uploaded a 2009 live recording to Youtube (Link).

Martin

[Alex Timmerman]

Hi Martin,

No problem. Your doing great, and it is such a wonderful composition to listen to. Let's keep up the good work for our wonderful instrument, the mandolin!

Best greetings,

Alex.

[Martin Jonas]

Hi Martin,

No problem. Your doing great, and it is such a wonderful composition to listen to. Let's keep up the good work for our wonderful instrument, the mandolin!

Thanks, Alex! Yes, it's a lovely piece to play and listen to, and also much easier than it sounds (always a bonus). As I only found your wonderful version after I had already recorded and uploaded mine, it was a relief to find that your choices in tempo and articulation were broadly similar to mine. Your allegro is somewhat faster and (of course) the technical level of playing much better, but I'm happy with how mine worked out considering the inevitable compromises in terms of spontaneity and musicality involved in multitrack home recordings.

I've brought the piece to our weekly ensemble rehearsal yesterday and we played it through beginning to end sightreading first time (I was the only one who had seen their part before) -- worked pretty well without any major hitches and everybody seems happy with their parts.

Martin