Can anyone recommend music for a trio consisting of Mandolin, Viola and Piano?
I suppose we're probably looking for a piece written for Violin, Viola and Piano that would work well for Mandolin.
Please bear in mind the limited abilities of the Mandolinist!
It would be interesting to hear of anything more virtuosic, especially if it is was written for mandolin, though I don't promise to attempt it!
Jon
I'd have to really think about existing pieces.
Have you considered commissioning a living composer?
There are many of us around.
It would be great to commission a piece Jim, but a little over the top for our purposes at this moment.
I also very much doubt that I could do justice to a piece commissioned from you. One advantage of dead composers is that they can't complain about my playing.
We are just three friends looking to play some music together, so I think we are looking for existing pieces at the moment. In the future - who knows?
If you do have any thoughts I'd be very glad to hear them.
Jon
Not to state the obvious, but have you looked at the literature for violin, viola & piano? There's plenty out there that could be be played on mando, though maybe that would not be as "authentic" as you're wanting. (BTW, we do have several "live" composers at the Cafe -- hint, hint
John Craton
"Pick your fingers to the bone, then pick with the bone"
[QUOTE]"....we do have several "live" composers at the Cafe..."
Jack Beeson once told me "the way living composers are treated, they might as well be DEAD!"
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
Maybe that's why I spend so much time decomposingOriginally Posted by (vkioulaphides @ Feb. 17 2005, 09:59)
John Craton
"Pick your fingers to the bone, then pick with the bone"
Oh dear! I seem to be surrounded by a trio of "undead" composers!!!
Seriously though, if any of you have written something that would be suitable for our slightly unusual trio, I am very keen to try it. I can only hope that the quality of my playing would do honour to the quality of your compositions.
I have looked at some Violin, Viola and Piano repertoire, but I haven't been struck by anything that I have looked at as being particularly suitable for the Mandolin. Though I am sure that this is more a mark of my ignorance, than of the available pieces.
[QUOTE]"Jack Beeson once told me "the way living composers are treated, they might as well be DEAD!"
The context of this hilarious comment was this: Jack Beeson —one of the towering figures in American music for the theater— had come to the performance of one of my operas on an evening that one of HIS (Lizzie Borden) was playing at New York City Opera.
Seeing him in the audience, and knowing the schedule of City Opera, I was simply floored. He came up to me and started a lively chat during intermission. After profuse thanks and more thanks again, I cautiously voiced the question begged "Why are you here and not *there*?"
Turns out —all this through the grapevine— that Jack must have been such a pest at the rehearsals at City Opera that the management had expressly banned him from the building during the performances. So, instead of wandering aimlessly (and grumpily) the streets of Manhattan on a sultry, summer evening, he came to hear "something else".
We commiserated; he shared with me the above precious dictum.
You see, onthefiddle, some undead composers aren't all bad.
As for trios, look up the genre in the local library; there is much to be found.
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
Alas Victor, there is not much music of any genre to be found in my local library.
To be fair - it is a fairly small library.
I suppose that this will have to wait until I'm in the big city next, where I'm certain they have a wealth of suitable trios.
This has rather shown the limitations of many online music shops to me though, where it is impossible to browse through the music properly.
Jon
Sorry folks, but I seriously doubt you'll find anything in this combination (violin/viola/piano). Replace the piano with a cello and we're in business. If you don't mind that the piano is playing an orchestra reduction, there's always Mozart's "Sinfonia Concertante" for violin and viola (tuned up a half step).
Alas, I know I am wishful; a cello instead of the piano (or even the viola) would open many doors. Still, the American Music Center ought to have some such by our 20th-century colleagues.
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
Try Sharmusic.com. go to sheetmusic, then chambermusic and then sort by instrumentation. They have a category for the vln/vla/piano combination and have 23 works listed. Nearly all are arrangements of other pieces, in original form many are for clarinet/viola/piano or flute/etc...Good luck!
Linda
P.S. to Victor -- I want to pre-order your Belle Epoche collection, and the guitar/mandolin piece as well!
Wow! We have suddenly gone from a dearth of music to a wealth indeed!
Thank you everyone!
Once we have worked our way through some of these then it may well be time to encourage some of the resident composers here to write something for our odd little trio. The lack of original works for a trio of even such well established instruments as Violin, Viola and Piano shows that there is plenty of new territory yet to be explored, and the number of transcriptions demonstrates that there is certainly a need for such music.
Thank you all again!
Jon
[QUOTE]"P.S. to Victor -- I want to pre-order your Belle Epoche collection, and the guitar/mandolin piece as well! "
Well, Linda, as regards the Sinfonia-Overtura (my 2005 Greek mando-project), my usual, vile, shameless promotional e-mails will go out in the first week of March (two weeks from today).
On the other hand, as regards my 2006 project of Belle Epoque, Athenian Sentimentalia, that one is still simmering— got to get the flavor JUST right!
My shamelessness comes naturally but without any "sales pressure", as there is obviously no "profit motive" either: I am simply repaying debts incurred by wild and wanton purchases of vintage LP's (yes, I still own some of *those*), printing of facsimiles from various libraries, and various other extravagances I indulge in on my mando-music-research expeditions.
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks