Polcha Variata

[Marc Woodward]

Been playing this piece from Hugo D'Alton's yellow book for many years - and finally had the opportunity to give it a decent airing a few weeks ago at a classical recital do dah. Anyway thought I'd share with y'all

http://youtu.be/XeXaugLUpgg

Hope you like - (still not sure I've really nailed it though!)
Cheers
Marc

[Jim Garber]

Pretty close to nailing that tune -- that is by Persichini, right? Very nice, Marc!

[Marc Woodward]

Thanks Jim, yep Benedetto Persichini. I first studied this tune when I was about 16 with my mandolin teacher who was a half Moroccan wig and kaftan wearing ex circus clown and previous member of Troise and his mandoliers along with Hugo D'Alton!

I then came back to looking at it when I undertook a week long summer school with Alison Stephens.
However I think there may be several slight variations/arrangements as Chris Acquavella tells me the version he recorded on Praeladium was not taken from the Hugo repertoire... Whatever it's a pretty cool tune!

Cheers
Marc

[Martin Jonas]

That was lovely, Marc. I have that book and have tried a fair few of the pieces, but the Polcha Variata is way beyond me. Clearly not beyond you, though!

Martin

[Tavy]

That's some mighty fine playing there Marc. Just curious, which of the herd were you playing?

[Marc Woodward]

Thanks Martin
Tavy - you'll be pleased to know it's the Angara e D'Isanto you restored so skillfully! Sounding great - no problem filling a big church with sound. I've been using it a lot - I particularly like the fact that there's no fingerboard extension so I can play right over the sound hole without clicking...
Cheers all
Marc

[Tavy]

Thanks Martin
Tavy - you'll be pleased to know it's the Angara e D'Isanto you restored so skillfully! Sounding great - no problem filling a big church with sound. I've been using it a lot - I particularly like the fact that there's no fingerboard extension so I can play right over the sound hole without clicking...

Cool

It's actually interesting to hear one played in that setting (Buckland Abbey?) - with all the natural reverb going on it fills the space rather nicely as you say.

[O'Riabh]

I have tried to play Polcha Variata using GDAE tuning but the stretch is to much ie, I cant reach the A in D F(sharp) A at the beginning of the piece.

[Marc Woodward]

Hi O'Riabh,
I am playing it in standard tune but of course the stretch on an old Italian round back is not as great as on a modern Gibson type instrument as the scale is shorter. The lighter strings help too...

Good luck with it!

Marc

[O'Riabh]

Hi O'Riabh,
I am playing it in standard tune but of course the stretch on an old Italian round back is not as great as on a modern Gibson type instrument as the scale is shorter. The lighter strings help too...

Good luck with it!

Marc

I have a Pietro Ruffini bowlback and a Big Muddy M4 but even with the old bowlback it's difficult. A (L) index finger extension may be required

Thanks for your response.

[ninomando]

Pretty close to nailing that tune -- that is by Persichini, right? Very nice, Marc!

Could you send me sheet music or sogno di bimba and variata by bednedetto--ciao Nino Damiani

[ninomando]

I have a Pietro Ruffini bowlback and a Big Muddy M4 but even with the old bowlback it's difficult. A (L) index finger extension may be required

Thanks for your response.

Please send me benedtto sheet music for polcha variata--ciao Nino

[ninomando]

Been playing this piece from Hugo D'Alton's yellow book for many years - and finally had the opportunity to give it a decent airing a few weeks ago at a classical recital do dah. Anyway thought I'd share with y'all

http://youtu.be/XeXaugLUpgg

Hope you like - (still not sure I've really nailed it though!)
Cheers
Marc

Please send sheet music for polcha variata by benedtto persichini Thanks for the great sounds --ciao Nino

[ninomando]

Been playing this piece from Hugo D'Alton's yellow book for many years - and finally had the opportunity to give it a decent airing a few weeks ago at a classical recital do dah. Anyway thought I'd share with y'all

http://youtu.be/XeXaugLUpgg

Hope you like - (still not sure I've really nailed it though!)
Cheers
Marc

Please send Polcha variata sheet music -ciao Nino

[Jim Garber]

ninomando: no need to post multiple times. I am not sure about posing it here since it may be copyrighted. I will take a look.

[minuteman]

Reviving this old thread to avoid starting a new one. Would anyone have a source for this score? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[Jess L.]

... Would anyone have a source for this score? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

I didn't find any free sources but I did find this... not sure this is the right thing though... Book "4 Pieces for Solo Mandolin by B. Persichini", editor Alison Stephens, on Astute Music website:

• Hardcopy, £5.50 + shipping (don't know if they ship internationally)
• Downloadable version, £4.10

It supposedly has the following four tunes:

• "Polcha Variata"
• "Arrabbiosa"
• "Piccolina"
• "Il Bacio"

Looks like the payment method is PayPal. Don't know if they accept Paypal processing of normal credit cards like some websites do, the website didn't specify that.

According to Google's exchange rate calculator, the downloadable version at £4.10 equals about $5.15 in US dollars, or $6.75 in Canadian dollars, or 4.78 Euro (I don't know how to make the Euro sign), or $6.82 in Australian dollars, etc etc. Also I don't know if Paypal tacks on extra fees or anything, I haven't used Paypal in ages.

Might want to wait to see if anyone can verify it's the right book/arrangement/etc, before buying it.

[Martin Jonas]

The Alison Stephens edition is probably the best bet, and very reasonably priced. Otherwise, the question would be when precisely did Persichini die? If he died before 1946, his work is now in the public domain and it should be OK to post a scan from D'Alton's yellow book ("A Variety of Mandolin Music", Clifford Essex Editions) which several of us have copies of. That book was published in 1975, and there is a copyright claim with that date on the bottom of each page, but all the pieces in that book are facsimile reproduction from much earlier BMG magazines, mostly 1920s/30s. I am not a copyright lawyer, but my understanding is that you can't claim copyright on facsimile editions regardless of any new copyright claim printed on the edition.

The yellow book also comes up on Ebay UK quite frequently, usually for about five Pounds. If you see it, buy it -- it's wonderful!

Martin