Mandolin and piano duets

[Jim MacDaniel]

There are three piano players in my circle of family and friends whoi are interested in playing duets with me. Can anyone recommend any pieces for which I may be able to acquire sheet music, that were written for or arranged for piano and mandolin?

[John Craton]

Try Wolfhead Music in the U.S. and Trekel in Germany. Both publish a fair amont of music for mandolin and piano. And don't forget, of course, Beethoven's works for this combination, all of which are published by G. Henle and are available from Sheetmusic Plus and other music sellers.

[barbaram]

Dr Eric Gross, former Professor of Music, has written a number of works for mandolin ( see http://www.sydneymandolins.com/ and then go to the compositions page) including piano reductions for his Mandolin Concertos. His Sonata for Mandolin and Piano is very fine indeed.

Dr John Peterson and Robert Allworth have also written for that instrumentation.

The works were written for Mandolinist Michael Hooper.

[Martin Jonas]

A good start might be the Beethoven mandolin and piano duets. At least the sonatinas in C minor and C major are well within reach of the moderately ambitious amateur mandolinist and pianist, and they are among the relatively small number of original pieces written by one of the major composers for this instrumentation.

Martin

[mandomary]

You might also try Last Resort Music. #They have a variety of styles which can be purchased as piano and violin. #I think it's www.lastresortmusic.com

[Jim MacDaniel]

Great feedback, and keep it coming, but I think I may start a couple of the Beethoven sonatinas since my partners may be a bit more familiar with them.

[vkioulaphides]

Alas, I doubt that many pianists are familiar with Beethoven's mandolin sonatinas. But they are lovely pieces all the same, and I warmly recommend them. There are other, also lovely pieces for this combination.

Of course, if you are to go for violin and piano, well... the repertoire is ENORMOUS, if also only partly adaptable to the mandolin. Sure, the basic fingering and layout on the fingerboard is automatically transferable from violin to mandolin but the actual character of the music may well scream "VIOLIN!" You don't want to be fighting a losing battle...

I would say: start with works originally for mandolin and piano; if your appetite is still going strong after those, try Baroque sonatas for violin and piano: Corelli —my own favorite— but also Vivaldi, Handel, et al. By the time you reach Tartini, Veracini, Geminiani and the likes, it may become well nigh impossible to transfer the idiom to a plucked instrument. It is probably impossible —and dubiously desirable— to play, say, the "Devil's Trill" Sonata on mandolin. Ouch! It belongs to the "do not try this at home" category...

[a12]

There are Calace tunes that have piano acc. rather than
the guitar part.(or both)
Check out the Nakano website discussed on earlier threads
here.
I would think the Bolero should be easy enough to play.

[vkioulaphides]

Right! I was thinking earlier that Canto Nostalgico, Op. 135 is one of the more accessible of those Calace classics— and a great vehicle for developing a melifluous tremolo! #

[mathieu.sarthe]

The classics : Calace's "danza spagnola" and "Valtzer fantastico" by E.Marucelli can be found for piano and are very fine too. Something intersting to try for more advanced "users" : the piano part Schumann wrote for the Bach's Sonatas for solo violin. That sound pretty well with mandolin.