MAY 2019 • VOLUME XXXVI #2

MandoLincoln: the 2019 CMSA Convention in Normal, Illinois By Sarah Curtis host committee co-chair

After a long hard Midwestern winter, we are finally beer list. The Normal Theater, connected to the emerging into springtime. It won’t be long until Marriott, is a restored art-deco theater that shows October when friends from far and wide will gather independent films, documentaries, and classic for the 2019 CMSA Convention. Orpheus Mandolin films. If you have kids in tow, the Children’s Dis- Orchestra is ready to host a fantastic convention on covery Museum is three stories of hands-on fun. October 9-13. Why are we so excited to bring the convention to Normal? Because we’re pretty sure you’ve never been this close to Normal! (We get this joke a lot. A LOT.)

Uptown Normal has everything you will need within a few walkable blocks. The Marriott is sur- rounded by shopping, dining and entertainment. The Normal Theater To stock your hotel room with basic groceries and sundries, CVS is a few steps away. Jesse’s Grille We are located in Central Illinois along Interstates restaurant is located in the Marriott. Around the 55, 74, and 39. Only 2 hours from Chicago and St. corner, Medici offers dining, domestic microbrews, Louis. The Marriot has a special CMSA group rate an outdoor patio, and a 30-foot Mulberry tree in the of $129 per night for convention attendees arriving atrium. For vegetarian and vegan options and all- from 10/6/2019 and departing 10/13/2019. Onsite day breakfast, try The Coffeehouse. And speaking parking (normally $10 per day) is complimentary of coffee, you can grab it in the lobby café, there’s a for those booking online. Travel tips and the Mar- Starbucks across the street, and the locally-owned riott booking link are on the CMSA website. favorite The Coffee Hound is just around the cor- ner. The convention will be a great time to connect with friends, explore workshops, chat with vendors, and There is a lot of fast dining: Middle Eastern at get to know our 2019 guest artists. The Rock, Chicago-style hot dogs at Windy City Wieners, calzones at D.P. Dough, Irish pub food at CMSA is pleased to announce those guest artists: Maggie Miley’s. Uptown Normal is adjacent to Il- mandolinist Sebastiaan De Grebber and guitarist linois State University, and as with most college Naeim Rahmani. towns, there are number of student bars with cheap (continued on page 4) beer and burgers. For a more “mature” vibe, Stave Wine Bar has a carefully curated wine and craft 2 MANDOLIN JOURNAL

CMSA EDITOR’S NOTE

Greetings, OFFICERS Sue Lesser - Co-President ‘20 Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue Susan McLaughlin - Co-President ‘20 of the Mandolin Journal. Tarisa Tognetti - Treasurer ‘20 Joane Rylander - Secretary ‘20 Lots of interesting news from CMSA in this issue BOARD OF DIRECTORS - grants, scholarships, convention videos, and a Nancy King ‘19 Nora Morgenstern ‘21 preview of the upcoming convention in Illinois. Dave Cohen ‘19 Fred Pike ‘21 Robert Margo ‘20 Jim Bates ‘21 If you would like to share news about your Michael Tognetti ‘20 mandolin orchestra, please send articles and photos to me for the Orchestra News column. MANDOLIN JOURNAL Jackie Zito - Editor The deadline for the next issue of the Robert Margo - Review Editor Mandolin Journal is July 1st. Please email WEBMASTER submissions to me at Joane Rylander [email protected]

HONORARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jackie Zito Carlo Aonzo Keith Harris Caterina Lichtenberg Ken Tanioka Michael Troester Gertrud Weyhofen CONTENTS

PAST PRESIDENTS 1 2019 CONVENTION Norman Levine (1987-1989) founder CMSA Antonina Nigrelli (1990-1996) 3 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Michael Schroeder (1997-2002) Bruce Graybill (2003-2007) 6 ORCHESTRA NEWS Lou Chouinard (2008-2014) 6 CMSA STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

The Mandolin Journal is published quarterly (February, 8 CMSA GRANT PROGRAM May, August, November) and sent as part of membership in the CMSA. Individual and household memberships are available. Individual: $35; Household membership: $35 10 CMSA 2018 WORKSHOP, MIGNANO-CRAWFORD plus $10 for each additional membership in a household. Orchestra subscriptions are accepted only for foreign 11 IN MEMORIUM: YVETTE COTE orchestras. Dues should be sent to CMSA, 3925 30th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55406-3108. 14 ANOTHER VIDEO PROJECT IN THE CAN Advertisement Rates: $60 per full page, $30 per half page, $17.50 per quarter page. Ads should be grayscale/black & 15 REVIEW: ROBIN BULLOCK white and in pdf or jpeg format. Please email ads to the editor at [email protected]. Send payment to CMSA, 3925 30th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55406-3108. 15 RESERVATIONS FOR MARRIOTT BLOOMINGTON

Back Issues of the CMSA Newsletter of last year are available 16 SOMETHING HAPPENED AT HUNGRY MONK for $3.00 each. As long as copies last, our introductory issue of 1986 is $1.00 each. We invite suggestions and written 18 SHORT REVIEWS, VOL. 10 contributions to the Newsletter please email them to [email protected]. 20 DESERT ISLAND DISCS, VOL. 4 All material (items, notes, editorials and advertising) must be submitted by the deadline stated within the Newsletter. 21 2018 CONVENTION, FINANACIAL RECAP Items not received by the deadline will appear in subsequent issues.

www.classicalmandolinsociety.org©2005 MAY 2019 3

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

By the time you receive this issue of the MJ, some of opening of the convention. The purpose of this class is you may be wrapping up another musical season. to extend the ‘care and feeding of mandolin orchestras’ Performance opportunities seem to be plentiful in the through honing the conducting skills of the many early spring, then drop off. While it’s nice to have some down time, most of us will quickly start looking forward Contractamateur musicnegotiations directors are (or moving their alongstand-ins!) swiftly in and CMSA. musical activity already planned for the summer? If so, smoothly for the 2020 Convention, and the formal to our next ‘fix’ of music! Do you have an interesting announcement will be made in Bloomington.

Asplease many don’t of you be shyknow, about this sharing year’s annual it with gathering us! of There are still two key areas of CMSA activity where we CMSA members will be held in Bloomington, Illinois. could use some volunteers: Grants & Scholarships and Martha Tyner, Sara Curtis and Bruce Bergathon, all the Education Committee. seasoned veterans at managing large events, are co- chairing the Host Committee. This is shaping up to be a The Technology Committee, headed by Michael very unique convention experience, with many special Tognetti, has sorted out the issue of data storage, and touches that only a smaller center, such as Bloomington, being available through the website. For example, weover exchange the coming newsletters months you’ll with thefind British more material Mandolin Marthacould offer! & Sarah have contributed an article that will & Guitar Federation, so you will have access to those go into greater detail about this year’s convention newsletters from your account on the CMSA website. In activities. Needless to say, we are thrilled to have the meantime, take a moment to check out the recently

Guitar and mandolin are natural partners, and this browse the music available for your ensembles, or use particularSebastiaan convention de Grebber will as our have headliner an increased on mandolin! focus theposted directories videos of to Santa contact Rosa’s other Open members Mic performances, or teachers on guitar, so please pass this information on to the in your area. Our thanks to Bob Margo for updating the web listing of active orchestras & ensembles. The rising star in the guitar world, will be giving a pre- Mandolin Journal continues to expand with great conventionplayers in your Masterclass home orchestra! in addition Naeim to his Rahmani, other duties. a articles, and between issues, we’ve been testing the waters by sending out occasional e-newsletters. We to be an accomplished guitar player. And we hope to includeOur Composer-in-Residence, an evening performance Rob from Lunn, some also ofhappens the guitar students at Illinois State University. hope you find value in this information. or performances you would like to highlight in our One new activity we want you to know about is a pre- Let us know if you have news about your group, with music, and we look forward to seeing you in newsletters or Journal. Have a fantastic summer, filed isconvention limited to Masterclass 15 participants, on Conducting, and will take given place by on Dr. the Jim TuesdayBates. This evening masterclass, and Wednesday which may morning be a ‘first’ prior for to CMSA, the SusanOctober! & Sue

CMSA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

Annette Young - Sparrows Point, MD Jim Williams - Denver, CO Tiffany Senkow - Falcon Heights, MN David Perkins - Asheville, NC Raul Enrique Palomo Ochoa - Toronto ON, CA Lauri Kloepfer - Durango, CO Michelle Mancia - Normal, IL Holly J. Gregory - Montclair, NJ John Fitzgerald - Woodside, NY Bruce Bergethon - Bloomington, IL Ann H. Wilson - Flowood, MS William “Ed”ward Davis - Stockbridge GA 4 MANDOLIN JOURNAL

(continued from page 1) At the age of eight, Sebas- Naeim has performed throughout the US and tiaan de Grebber started internationally. He enjoys bringing his music to to play the mandolin in small community or arthouse spaces where he can his hometown of Zwolle interact with the audience. His performance ven- (The Netherlands). He at- ues have included everything from private homes tended the Conservatory and community churches, to a renovated industrial at the Constantijn Huy- space in Oaxaca, Mexico, ancient churches along gens College of the Arts the Camino Santiago in Spain, and arthouses in to study music education Berlin. In all of these places Naeim brings his and the mandolin. After deeply personal style to create an intimate musical graduating, he focused on experience for the audience. a future career as a pro- Sebastiaan de Grebber fessional mandolinist. Se- Outside of his performance career, Naeim is the bastiaan continued his mandolin studies with Alex director of the Seattle-Isfahan Guitar Project. This Timmerman at the Messiaen Academie in Zwolle collaborative endeavor was created as a way to and with the well-known Italian mandolinist Ugo forge connections between musicians in Seattle and Orlandi at the Conservatorio ‘C. Pollini’ in Padova, in Naeim’s home town of Isfahan, Iran. Italy, earning a Master of Music with Distinction Naeim is on the music faculty at Bellevue College. (cum laude) in 2005.

Besides being an ambassador of the virtuosic and original Italian mandolin repertoire of the 20th Century, Sebastiaan’s interest also lies in modern music. By portraying the versatility of the mando- lin, he wishes to inspire contemporary composers to write for the instrument in different formations. This has already led to several new works such as “Rhapsody for mandolin and piano” by past CMSA Composer-in-Residence Victor Kioulaphides.

Currently, Sebastiaan teaches mandolin at the ArtEZ Academy of Music in Zwolle. He is concert- Robert Lunn master of Dutch mandolin chamber orchestra HET CMSA is pleased to announce 2019 Composer-in- CONSORT and directs Kamper Mandoline en Gi- Residence Dr. Robert Lunn, a composer/guitarist taar Orkest. He has an active performance career of from Holland, Michigan. Rob teaches music theory, mandolin solo, duo music technology, guitar and directs the jazz band and Quintet recit- at Lake Michigan College. Rob received his DMA in als and concerts. Music Composition from The Ohio State University Award winning gui- in 2010. Winner of the 2008 Ruth Friscoe Award for tarist Naeim Rah- his Sonata for Guitar, he has taught at The Ohio mani was born in State University, Grand Valley State University, Isfahan, Iran and Hope College, and Lake Michigan College. Rob will immigrated to the be a new face to CMSA audiences and we are de- United States as lighted to welcome him. a refugee in 2003. Dr. Jim Bates is returning to the podium for his Presently based 20th year conducting the En Masse Orchestra. in Seattle, Naeim Jim’s warm, humorous and engaging style makes completed his Mas- each rehearsal great fun. Jim will lead a few work- ter’s degree with shops for the CMSA crowd and serves on the CMSA Rene Izquierdo at board. Jim is a Professor and Director of Orchestral the University of Activities at Otterbein University in Columbus, Wisconsin at Mil- Ohio. Jim serves as an assistant conductor for the waukee. Naeim Rahmani MAY 2019 5

Westerville Symphony (OH) and Columbus Touring Opportunies Symphony Youth Or- Since you will be in the “Land of Lincoln” – chestras. Jim has a Masters in double bass If you arrive a day early to the convention, you performance from In- are invited to join Mary Lou Lael for a trip to the diana University and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Li- a Ph.D. in Musicology brary in Springfield, Illinois (1 hour’s drive from from the University of Bloomington-Normal). We will leave the hotel at Kentucky. 12:30 on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and return around 6:00 p.m. On Saturday night, all the hard work will pay The Lincoln museum, built in 2005, combines Dr. Jim Bates conducting off with an extraordi- historical artifacts with innovative technolo- en-masse rehearsal. nary concert. It’s been gies such as holographic and special effects the- Photo by Jenny Krajewski some years since CMSA aters. You will be immersed in Lincoln’s world traveled offsite for the and time, as you share the joys and sorrows of En Masse Orchestra performance. We are thrilled the Lincoln family, and experience events of the with our Saturday rehearsal and concert venue, Civil War. If time permits, we can also make a The Center for the Performing Arts at Illinois State trip to the Lincoln’s home, where the family lived University. The concert hall is a short walk from from 1844 until Lincoln became President and the Marriott. The host committee will arrange the family moved to Washington DC. See www. transport for those who need it. lookingforlincoln.com to find links to the mu- seum and home.

Harvest Days Farm Tour

You will be in the midst of some of the nation’s richest and most productive farmland and (weather permitting) harvest should be in full swing. Mary Lou Lael invites you for a visit to a nearby family farm to see 21st-century harvest activities (you might be surprised by the tech- nology!) and to tour a restored prairie. Trips to the farm will be arranged at your convenience. Spouses and significant others are welcome.

Mary Lou Lael is a friend of the Orpheus Man- dolin Orchestra. Contact Mary Lou at mltlael@ gmail.com with questions or to reserve a trip.

Center for the Performing Arts

October will be here before you know it. Make your travel plans and Marriott reservations now. We can’t wait to see you on October 9-13 in Normal, Il- linois for MandoLincoln. 6 MANDOLIN JOURNAL Orchestra News

CAROL FRANZ (1938 - 2019)

The Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra is greatly saddened by the loss of its beloved and longtime member Carol Franz. Carol passed away suddenly at her home in Glen Ridge, New Jersey on Saturday, March 2. Carol was 80 years old. Carol Franz was a player in the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra’s Mandolin II section, served as Orchestra President, and currently served as Treasurer. Also, Carol was inducted into the Bloomfield Federation of Music Hall of Fame during the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra’s Annual Spring Concert at Bloomfield Middle School, on Sunday, April 26, 2015. In addition, Carol and her husband Jack represented the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra at several national Classical Mandolin Society of America (CMSA) Conventions.

May God Bless Carol, her husband Jack, and their family.

A link to the obituary for Carol Franz: Carol Franz was inducted into the Bloomfield Federation of Music Hall of Fame during the Bloomfield https://brookdalefh.com/tribute/details/221/Carol- Mandolin Orchestra’s Spring Franz/obituary.html?fbclid=IwAR1e24SpCT_ Concert on April 26, 2015. Carol is IhW5AufxXDXBVn5mFL8ZrvQFXTVnjA2wAnGZ0ynWVylZLiWA posed with her Hall of Fame medal and mandolin. Photo by John Meixner

CMSA Student Scholarships from Susan McLaughlin & Sue Lesser Please note that our pre-convention workshop offerings begin on the Tuesday evening prior to Do you have any young folks in your mandolin the convention and carry over to the following orchestra? Why not encourage them to take part morning. This would require that you adjust in the experience of a lifetime?! your travel plans to arrive by late afternoon on the Tuesday. Each year CMSA offers scholarships for full time high school and college students to attend Scholarship recipients are expected to: the annual convention. The scholarship covers • Attend the entire convention Wednesday convention registration giving you access to to Sunday all workshop and activities. It also includes • Play in the En Masse Orchestra at daily admission to one (1) of the pre-convention rehearsals (4) and in the Saturday workshop offerings, admission to all evening evening concert concerts, your Gala banquet meal, and a one- • Attend morning sectional rehearsals year membership in CMSA. It does not cover Thursday to Saturday air fare to travel to the convention, nor does it • Attend the Gala Banquet on Friday cover room & board at the hotel. Scholarship • Submit an article to the Mandolin recipients are responsible for booking their own Journal talking about their convention travel and hotel arrangements. experience

Attendees under 18 years of age must be Apply here: https://classicalmandolinsociety. accompanied by an adult. (Your chaperone’s org/grants-and-scholarships/ banquet meal and evening concert tickets are covered by the scholarship.) MAY 2019 7 Orchestra News

On March 2, 2019 the Kalamazoo Mandolin and so he titled the & Guitar Orchestra performed “Wynkoop piece as a tribute to Waltz”, the winning entry from the KMGO’s that train. All of the second composition competition. Wynkoop Waltz pieces give the guitar was written by Denver Mandolin Orchestra section a chance to guitarist Jim Williams. The KMGO was shine - they often honored to have the composer in the audience carry the melody and for the performance at the Kalamazoo Fretboard get featured solos. Festival. The piece is named for the Wynkoop Brewery, a tavern in Denver’s “Lower Downtown” The KMGO would or “LoDo”. The establishment became an early like to extend its rehearsal site for the Denver Mandolin Orchestra gratitude to Jim and the orchestra still plays concerts there 3 or for sharing these 4 times per year. The KMGO performed a set of pieces with us and pieces by Williams including “Goto Dengo” which for traveling to was named for an inspiring character from the Kalamazoo to hear 1999 novel “Cryptonomicon”. The music loosely the performance. represents the arc of the character’s development If any orchestras throughout the novel. The set concluded with the are interested in exciting piece “Leadville Express”. The town contacting Jim Composer Jim Williams (l) and of Leadville, Colorado was a silver mining boom Williams about KMGO Conductor, Matt Cosgrove (r) town in the late 1800’s with a local train that was acquiring his used to haul miners and silver ore in and out of compositions, he can be reached at Jimwilliams18@ Leadville. It is still in operation today, mainly as a comcast.net or 1-720-472-1612. tourist attraction. Williams thought the piece had a little bit of a railroad chugging feel to it in spots

Some cellos in Baltimore

This nifty photo was taken at a recent Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra concert. From left to right, that’s Jed Fahey, who plays the BMO’s 1918 Gibson K2; Annette Young safeguarding the BMO’s rare 1924 Lloyd Loar-signed Gibson K5; Dan Schiavone with his guitar conversion; and Taka Kanaya holding his 2016 Noguchi Ohno Special 2 (OS2). 8 MANDOLIN JOURNAL CMSA Revises its Grants Program By Robert A. Margo It has been a little more than a decade since the grants program was formalized and it From its inception CMSA has awarded grants seemed a good idea, therefore, to review in support of its mission “to promote and its progress to date. Hence, in 2018 CMSA nurture the art of classical mandolin playing.” authorized a study by a review committee For example, a brief article in the August 1989 consisting of Nancy King, Michael Tognetti, issue of this newsletter (p. 13) announced and myself. We reported our findings and that a “Research Grant Committee” had been recommendations to the CMSA Board at its set up to evaluate proposals from “American annual meeting last November. By far the most researchers, doctorate or master’s degree important finding is that the grants program candidates in bona fide American schools of is very worthwhile and should continue. higher education” could apply for up to “$500 The Board debated the committee’s specific per [research] paper” on any topic pertaining to recommendations and in the end approved classical mandolin. Applications were accepted certain changes, which are now reflected in the at any time but, the article went on to stress text on the grants page on the CMSA website. that CMSA was “not yet ready to run a full- fledged grants program”. There are four key changes. First, the criteria on which proposals will be assessed have been Although in existence from the very beginning, clarified. Listed in order of importance, these the CMSA grants process was not formalized are: until a 2006 report by Lou Chouinard.1 The report recommended and the CMSA Board • The extent to which the project advances CMSA’s overall mission approved a formal program with three important characteristics. First, a total grants • The quality of the project description budget of $3,000 was authorized on an annual basis. Second, requirements were set for • A carefully prepared and well-justified bud- get proposals and for reporting by the recipient after a grant was awarded. Third, CMSA Second, proposals must be submitted on- signaled that it was interested in the following line using the form on the website (https:// topics, in order of priority: classicalmandolinsociety.org/grants/). The form asks for specific information, most of • Teach mandolin playing to students, with which is required before the proposal will be an emphasis on recruiting new players accepted by the system. From the proposer’s • Distribute mandolin teaching materials to point of view, this will hopefully improve students, programs, and orchestral librar- quality and presentation, which should make it ies easier for the Board to evaluate proposals. • Provide mandolin instruments to youth music programs Third, reporting requirements for grant recipients have been clarified; in particular, as • Increase the awareness of classical mando- before recipients will be required to prepare lin music in the community a very brief final report which will now be published in the Mandolin Journal. Detailed Presumably because of the priority ordering, instructions for preparing a proposal and, if the proposals that CMSA subsequently funded, the associated final report are in a pdf received fell largely under the first three topics, document that can be downloaded from the having the effect that the grants program was grants webpage. This document also includes a de facto channeled towards the formation of sample proposal and sample final report, both student/youth ensembles (e.g. “Mando-for- of which can be used as templates. Kids”). MAY 2019 9 idea for a project that doesn’t quite fit any of Fourth, the list of topics of interest has been the examples, don’t infer that CMSA would expanded with more concrete examples now give lower priority to your proposal or, worse, given, particularly for the “increase awareness reject it out of hand (see below on asking for of classical mandolin” category: advice). Ultimately, what really matters is impact and quality – the Board is interested in • A proposal to subsidize the purchase of man- well-articulated, cost-effective proposals that dolin-family and related (e.g. guitar, bass) advance CMSA’s mission, broadly defined. instruments for a new or established youth ensemble. In developing your budget, take care to justify • A proposal to subsidize start-up costs (e.g. each item requested and be specific about the purchase of sheet music or a necessary in- costs. At the present time, the $3,000 total strument) for a new adult mandolin orches- budget for grants in any given year is still in tra. effect, so overall funds are limited. 2 Also, very • A proposal to subsidize an educational out- important -- CMSA will not fund recurring reach program, with the aim of recruiting operating expenses of an ensemble (e.g. a new players of mandolin-family and related conductor/director’s salary, rehearsal rental instruments, in a local community. space). • A proposal to subsidize expenses of acquir- ing and distributing instructional material CMSA members in good standing are eligible for mandolin-family and related instruments to submit a grant proposal. The deadline for for a new or established youth ensemble or submission is August 1 to be considered for a adult mandolin orchestra, or a local school given year’s funding cycle. Proposals will be program. reviewed by the CMSA Board and voted on at its annual meeting. Approved awards will be • A proposal to subsidize expenses associated with a visit by a recognized instructor of a disbursed early in the following calendar year. mandolin-family or related instrument to a The final report for approved grants is expected new or established youth ensemble or adult within 90 days after the end of the grant mandolin orchestra, with the aim of improv- period. As noted previously, instructions for ing playing skills and/or recruiting new preparing and submitting the final report are players. given in the downloadable pdf document. • A proposal to subsidize expenses associated with the preservation and distribution of Please (please!) send us your proposals! historically important mandolin music not The Board considers the grants program to otherwise available through the CMSA web- be a major priority and is eager to attract site for the use of CMSA members, subject strong, worthwhile proposals. Don’t be shy to US copyright law. – if you have an idea but are not sure if it is • A proposal to subsidize expenses (e.g. travel appropriate or simply want feedback or to to an archive or library, manuscript copy- brainstorm, please use the contact form on the ing costs, required journal submission or CMSA website (I promise a timely response). publication fees) associated with a scholarly research project on classical mandolin.

• A proposal to subsidize travel of an individ- (Endnotes) Lou Chouinard, “CMSA Approves Grants Program,” ual or group to an international conference 1 CMSA Mandolin Journal, February/May 2007, p. 8. or festival, as a delegated representative of CMSA. 2 Under the original program priority was given to proposals that could attract matching funds from other Please keep in mind that, while expanded sources. While not averse, CMSA no longer expects that in length, the above list is not exhaustive of proposers will seek matching funds. topics that may be of interest – if you have an 10 MANDOLIN JOURNAL CMSA 2018 Workshop: Italian Mandolin Bay Area is why I wrote this book. It includes in depth biographies of Italian mandolin and accordion Heroes in America (NEW BOOK) $59 publishers. My workshop shows how each Italian Presented by Sheri Mignano Crawford music publisher sustained the popularity of ballo liscio dances and how those dances were transformed by the accordionists-publishers who standardized the repertoire

What you might have missed as a result of conflicting schedules during the convention or due to your absence at the convention, was the exciting news that after many years of discovery, research, and tenacious investigation, my new book reveals never- seen-before photographs of Italian mandolinists, dating back to 1889. For the first time, you see their faces and the music stores that supported the Italian music publishing businesses: De Stefano, Giovanni Conterno, Gaetano Leone, Rosario Catalano, O. Di Bella, Antonio Grauso, Pietro Tesio, Ottavio Pagani, My workshop covered Italian mandolin music Mauro V. Cardilli, Theresa Quinto Costello, Antonio publishers in America between 1890 and 1930. Paolilli, and Biagio Quattrociocche among many With rare exceptions, publishers were multi- other cameos of lesser known publishers. You learn instrumentalists who specialized in mandolin music. about the composers whose melodies fortified the Italian sheet music publishing survived in spite of dance catalogs for so many publishers. Composers the monolithic publishing companies that dominated such as Pietro Forte, Louis Canoro, Joseph Gioè, in the early 20th century. For that reason alone, Joseph Tarantola, Santi Tafarella and many others. Italian immigrants were courageous and heroic in challenging established music publishers. I maintain The shared repertoire resulted in a unified dance that the ballo liscio dance genre is on the cusp of catalog of Italian village dances. Much of the sheet classical and folk. It resides in that hybrid state where music remains in public domain (having been an advanced mandolinist is challenged and a beginner published before 1924). I invite you to visit my forum can find satisfaction and reward. These Italian music thread at Mandolin Café where you can access and publishers drew on the most professional, musically- download (FREE) the sheet music. Mandolinists and gifted composers to create the mandolin trio music guitarists can explore the exciting world of Italian catalogs. dances: the complex tarantella, the revolving waltz, the quirky mazurka, the symphonic march, Latin The earliest signs of success were seen in Philadelphia dances and much more. To get an overview of the where G.B. De Stefano decided to publish dance slide show and my new book, please visit my YouTube music using the mandolin trio. He abandoned the channel or copy this link: https://www.youtube. courtly line-dancing and inspired the major Italian com/watch?v=ZABM2zfGH88 To download public publishers in Manhattan who emulated him. Some of domain sheet music, please visit www.mandolincafe. De Stefano’s composers went on to publish in Brooklyn, com and join the forum thread titled “Drop Box Now and finally, in Manhattan where the mandolin trio Available.” You will find the latest Index (27pp) and format excelled. Pietro Tesio and Ottavio Pagani be able to download thousands of dances. Italian represent the most prominent publishers in the dance vintage recordings are available in mp3 format and tradition. At some point, the mandolin sheet music can easily be downloaded, too. business traveled to Providence where mandolinists like Pettine were self-publishing. To order the book, please email me: [email protected] $59, no tax and I pay S & H. I use PayPal for instant At some point between the two major world wars, invoicing. Eventually, the books will be for sale at the mandolin sheet music demise was countered bookstores. P.O. Box 1784, Boyes, Hot Springs, CA by the rising popularity of the the accordion. When 95416-1784 that happened, the Italian dances crossed over into the accordion repertoire. That story of how the Italian dances leaped across the United States (via Steubenville, OH) and landed in the San Francisco MAY 2019 11

In Memoriam: Yvette Cote (1924-2019) and influenza. Leo moved to the United States in 1922. He married Yvonne Lalonde in 1923, and By Lee Breckenridge and Robert A. Margo the couple settled in the Woonsocket, Rhode Island area, where they joined thousands of other French- Yvette Cote, née Canadian immigrants who had come to work in the Cousineau, died at textile mills. Rhode Island Hospital, Providence RI, on Yvette was born on May 19, 1924. According to January 30, 2019 at the 1930 census, when Yvette was 5 years old, Leo the age of 94. Yvette worked as a laborer in a textile mill, and lived with was a longtime member his family in Blackstone Village, Massachusetts, of the Providence just upriver from Woonsocket. Yvonne worked as Mandolin Orchestra a shoemaker in a rubber factory. Yvette’s twin (PMO, directed by brothers, Edmund and Raymond, were born in Mark Davis) and of the 1937. Three other siblings did not survive past l’Esperance Mandolin early infancy. Ensemble (directed Yvette Cousineau by Josh Bell), also The Great Depression was a period of economic based in Rhode Island. upheaval and labor strife in Woonsocket’s textile She played with the PMO for a quarter century industry. Large numbers of mill workers were until her retirement several years ago, when she unemployed, and many were unable to find regular was no longer able to attend Tuesday rehearsals at work of any kind. Instead, many took so-called night. In recent years, however, she continued to “work relief” jobs with the federal government. Leo rehearse on Saturday mornings and perform with Cousineau is one example. According to the 1940 the l’Esperance Mandolin Ensemble. federal census, the family lived in Woonsocket, and Leo spent all of 1939 employed in a work relief job As a young woman Yvette was a formidable as an investigator, while Yvonne no longer worked classical mandolinist, among the best players in outside the home. By then, Yvette, age 15, had the United States in the mid-twentieth century. completed the eighth grade and was still attending She performed at national conventions of mandolin school, presumably the first year of high school. organizations and locally in the Providence- Soon afterward, Yvette apparently left school Woonsocket area where she lived. Her time in the and went to work in the mills. By the time of the limelight as a young concert mandolinist was brief. 1942 city directory, her employment is listed as Like other female players of her era, she gave up “stitcher.” performing on mandolin when Yvette pursued her musical interests on the she married and side. Adrienne Dumalin was her first teacher on had a child. Later mandolin. Dumalin, a child prodigy, was born in in life, though, she Massachusetts in 1919 to Belgian parents who had decided to take up migrated to the city of Lawrence to work in the the instrument woolen mills. Dumalin’s first teacher was Joseph again, after Consentino, a well-known banjo and mandolin meeting Josh Bell player who operated a music store in Lawrence. and Mark Davis at After her parents moved to Rhode Island, Dumalin a PMO concert at became one of Giuseppe Pettine’s most prominent an arts and crafts Yvette Cote with Josh Bell pupils later in his career, performing at several of festival in Burrillville the national conventions of the American Guild RI, in August 1989. of Banjoists, Mandolinists, and Guitarists in the 1930s. Although Dumalin’s formal education ended Yvette’s ancestry was French-Canadian. Her with the eighth grade, she was entrepreneurially father, Leopold (“Leo”) Cousineau was born in minded. By age 19, she had established her own Quebec, Canada, in 1896. Leo was a decorated thriving music studio in Woonsocket, next to her veteran of the Canadian army in World War family’s home on Social Street, just a few blocks I. He saw extended deployment in France and from where Yvette lived on Gaulin Avenue. spent time in hospital recuperating from injuries

(continued on page 12) 12 MANDOLIN JOURNAL

(continued from page 11) short-lived National Mandolin Society (NMS). After World War II, Dumalin married William Though largely forgotten today, the NMS was an Ryan, a former mill worker and a war veteran. important predecessor of CMSA, with the same By the 1950’s, she along with her husband and broad goals and similar activities. The NMS was her parents had moved to California. Her studio conceived by Pettine, Walter Kaye Bauer, Carlo was taken over by Mederic Boucher, a former mill de Fillipis, and other luminaries of the classical worker who, like Dumalin, was a Pettine student mandolin world at a brainstorming session after and a nationally recognized player. It is not a concert in Manhattan. The inaugural gathering known when Yvette began her mandolin studies was held in April 1949 in Hartford CT, at which with Dumalin, but it is clear from press accounts Cousineau performed “Fantasia Romantica.” that she continued with Boucher around the time After the first meeting, the NMS generally met that he returned from World War II and opened a twice a year at various locations in the Northeast music business in the building where Dumalin had until the organization’s demise in the early operated her studio. 1950s. Cousineau attended and performed at these meetings, typically as a soloist but also in The greater mandolin world took notice of ensembles including, on at least one occasion, with Yvette Cousineau in 1948 when she attended Pettine. the American Guild convention in Minneapolis as a Boucher student, winning first prize in the “Student Artist” solo mandolin contest. At the 1949 American Guild convention in Hamilton, Ontario, she performed Pettine’s difficult solo “Fantasia Romantica” at the gala Festival Concert on July 13. Yvette also began to concertize regularly in the Woonsocket/Providence area. For example she participated in several of the annual studio concerts that Boucher sponsored, appearing as the concertmaster of his mandolin orchestra. She performed in a duo with the guitarist Jeannine Biron, a fellow Boucher student and also a Guild prize-winner in 1948. She gave a mandolin-piano recital for Woonsocket’s Beethoven club, and also participated in a concert with the Providence Serenaders, a long-standing music organization in the city.

Late in the 1940s Cousineau became a student of Pettine’s, following in Boucher’s and Dumalin’s footsteps. By then she was already a fully-formed player, and the nature and content of these studies are unclear. However, there is no question that Pettine thought highly of her and actively promoted her career in various ways. He mentioned and praised her regularly in his magazine, the Fretted Instrument News (FIN), arranged concerts behind the scenes, and included her in several of his public appearances. For example, she assisted Pettine in a prominent workshop on duo style that he gave at the 1951 Guild Convention, performing his solo pieces for the audience.

Perhaps the most important of Cousineau’s musical collaborations with Pettine involved the MAY 2019 13

Cousineau’s concert repertoire comprised some mills. of the mandolin’s most virtuosic compositions, along with arrangements of violin showpieces In 1959 Yvette married Herve V. Cote and moved such as Grigoris Dinicu’s “Hora Staccato” and to his house on Arlington St. in Woonsocket. Her Charles Auguste de Bériot’s “Concerto No. 7, Op. son Paul was born a year later, and survives her. 6”. In addition to “Fantasia Romantica” she also Herve Cote died in 2008. performed Pettine’s “Murmuring Brook,” among other solo works, and his mandolin concerto. As far we know, Yvette had given up performing She performed the Beethoven “Sonatina” (a rare on the mandolin until she met Bell and Davis at accomplishment at the time), and concertos by that memorable PMO concert. Subsequently, she Raffaele Calace (No. 1) and Silvio Ranieri. She was became an enthusiastic and steadfast member routinely praised by critics for her musical abilities. of both the PMO and the l’Esperance Mandolin For example, in an article in FIN (September/ Ensemble. Among her many appearances with the October 1951, p. 12) the eminent guitarist George PMO were its 1998 Kennedy Center concert, the Krick, offering his impressions of the 1951 Guild CMSA conventions in 1995 (Providence) and 2011 Convention, described Cousineau as an up-and- (Baltimore), and in European tours in 1999 and coming “artist of the first rank … Her tremolo is 2008. She appears on all of the PMO’s recordings, beautiful, difficult scale passages, double stops, and on the recent l’Esperance CD, “Water of and harmonics were rendered with an ease and Life: Songs from the Celtic Tradition.” She can nonchalance that surprised and delighted us.” An be seen on various PMO and l’Esperance videos advertisement for the 1952 Guild convention in on YouTube. Yvette is sorely missed by family, FIN (May/June 1952, p. 8), promoting Cousineau’s friends, and mandolin colleagues everywhere. forthcoming appearance as a headline artist, asserts that her “unerring technic, brilliant tone, and artistic phrasing will surely surprise and delight the most exacting critics.” In his “Rambling Amidst the Frets” column in the January/ February 1953 issue of FIN (p. 9), Pettine included Cousineau’s name in a list of the most important mandolinists of the day, along with Dave Apollon, Bernardo de Pace, and other famous players.

After 1953, Cousineau’s public performances and travels to conventions tapered off. She lived at home with both parents until her father died in 1955, and then stayed on in the house with her widowed mother. City directories indicate that she Yvette with the Providence Mandolin Orchestra in 1999 continued working as a machine operator in the

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS TO THE NEXT JOURNAL IS JULY 1st PLEASE SEND SUBMISSIONS TO: [email protected] 14 MANDOLIN JOURNAL Another Video Project is in the Can (old film term) Michael Tognetti

As I reflect on finishing the 2018 CMSA Video Project the convention plus five months has come and gone. Now, I am looking forward to the seven to go until our next grand get together in the “Mando-Lincoln”, where I will start all over again. It seems I just wrap up one video project and I am already planning for the next one. Not to mention the other ones in my head for my local orchestra and some friends. Aren’t hobbies amazing?

If you haven’t been to the CMSA website recently, take an electronic ‘So, you may be asking journey to the “Past Conventions” page and see some of the great “What is in the plan for work that Joane Rylander has been doing. The page has undergone an 2019 in Illinois?” For overhaul. This is where you will find links to the videos for En Masse this year, I am looking Concerts, the Thursday and Friday night concerts featuring our guest forward to the En Masse performers and the Host Orchestras, and some of the Open Mic content performance in a concert for several of the past conventions. She is not done updating yet, but she is making great progress. hall with great lighting and acoustics, our fea- As I have for the past several years, I produced videos of the En Masse tured performers and Concert and Open Mic Sessions (Thursday and Saturday) and each host concerts, and most year there has been challenges and twists. This past year’s challenges of all—for me—two new were the lighting during the En Masse performance, and the Disco on the other side of the wall. Both of these are tricky things to overcome rounds of some of the in a live performance. Each year I add a little twist to bring something best performances ever different to the videos produced. Last year’s twist was that I brought as the 2019 Open Mic several cameras to the event. This year, I found that I needed more (four Sessions take place ’ is insufficient)—More on that below. This past year’s twist was it was the first year that we recorded video of our Guest Performers and the Host Orchestras for the Thursday and Friday evening concert events. Many thanks to Takumi Mamiya, Dorina Frati, and Daniele Roi for allowing us to record and produce video of their performances and post it on our site for the benefit of our members.

I believe I have delivered all the content to our CMSA webmaster, our archivist and to all the participating members of the Open Mic Sessions. If you performed in the 2018 Open Mic Sessions and did not get your video, please email me directly at [email protected], and I will get you a copy.

So, you may be asking “What is in the plan for 2019 in Illinois?” For this year, I am looking forward to the En Masse performance in a concert hall with great lighting and acoustics, our featured performers and host concerts, and most of all—for me—two new rounds of some of the best performances ever as the 2019 Open Mic Sessions take place.

To make this all happen I could use a couple of more cameras so I can capture the En Masse Mandolas, Guitars, Mandocellos and Basses better—they were underrepresented in recent videos. Here’s where you can help. If you happen to see my financial advisor (Tarisa Tognetti) you could put in a good word for me. You will easily recognize her because she is also the CMSA Treasurer. Together, I think we can convince her to fund the new cameras you and I will put to good use! (Ha Ha). I could also use your help in a more direct way. Would you consider taking video on that little device you carry around with all day, every day? Get in touch with me and we can talk about how you can be a part of the video production team.

See you in Normal! MAY 2019 15 Review of Robin Bullock, “J.S. Bach, Suites for mandolins to record the Suites: one from 1901 and two from the early 1920s. He describes the “playing Mandolin – Volume One” quality” of each instrument, plus gives the reader By Nick Royal their names!

Celtic/folk guitarist, Robin In his style, he describes how he views the 3 Suites: Bullock, has produced a “…despite this surface uniformity, each suite really nice collection of the displays its own individual character. I personally first 3 Bach Cello Suites hear No. 1 as innocent and wistful, No. 2 as brooding played on mandolin. I and angry and No. 3 as quietly joyous…” first learned of Robin Bullock from his recording I really liked his notes with the music and I’ll “Travellers” which share one other quote: “A guiding intention in my including a trio of really adaptation of these works has been to create the fine mandolinists: Robin, John Reischman and impression that they could have been composed for Butch Baldassari. the mandolin – or better still, to make the listener forget about the instrument altogether, as always Bullock lives in Black Mountain, NC and plays with Bach, the architecture of the music transcends all kinds of music on guitar, mandolin and other the specific instrumentation.” instruments. In his notes* he mentions that the cd is Volume One with the first 3 Bach Cello Suites, This CD is available from his website or cdBaby. and that another volume is planned with the other 3 suites. (Much like Chris Thile’s Volume One of * Speaking of good cd notes: Chris Thile’s recording Bach’s violin sonatas and a partita, with Volume has some interesting notes by the pianist, Jeremy Two planned in the future.) Denk; and Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg’s 12 Part Inventions CD has notes by David Gordon, An unusual approach to recording Suites 1, 2, and Dramaturge, with the Carmel Bach Festival. (the 3, is that Robin Bullock uses 3 older Gibson A recordings are special too!)

Reservations for The Marriott in Bloomington-Normal are now open!

Our 2019 CMSA Convention will be held at The Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, in Bloomington- Normal, Illinois. The CMSA rate for the convention (Wednesday, October 9th to Saturday, October 13th) for a standard room is $129 per night (before taxes). Please make your reservations by using this link:

Marriott Reservations

If you want to take a few days to vacation in the Land of Lincoln before or after the convention, our negotiated hotel rate is valid three days prior and three days post-convention dates. IMPORTANT: If you plan to take advantage of this, please reserve your room by phone at : 1-888-236-2427, as their online reservation system isn’t set up to accommodate booking dates outside our convention dates. Please identify yourself as belonging to the “CMSA Group Block”.

Please make your booking before September 15th, 2019 in order to receive CMSA’s discounted rate!

The convention itself will run from noon on Wednesday, October 9th through to our Annual General Meeting on the morning of Sunday, October 13th. We are anticipating that there will also be three (3) pre-convention Master Classes running on the evening of Tuesday, October 8th concluding on the morning of Wednesday, October 9th. Watch for future announcements about this.

We have a limited number of rooms available at this discounted rate. These rooms will go quickly once the announcement is made regarding our unique guest performers! We encourage you to make your hotel reservations early. See you in Bloomington-Normal! 16 MANDOLIN JOURNAL Something Happened at Hungry Monk Music

It certainly did. To be precise, in February Why did the participants all feel they had 2019, on the premises of Hungry Monk experienced something “special”? There Music, Charleston, SC, the extraordinary were so many reasons. It was a true “playing happening was a workshop for plucked string workshop,” carefully and expertly designed instruments directed by Keith Harris. for plucked string musicians of all levels of experience. Keith had planned the workshop On the surface, that may not sound so unusu- so that no one should feel too inexperienced al: a dozen or so players of mandolin, mando- to benefit. On the other hand, the workshop la and guitar got together, rehearsed for three was meaty enough for more experienced days, and performed before a highly enthusi- players too – so nobody could feel under- astic audience. After only three days, it was challenged. This was made possible among of course “work in progress”, and not intended other things by special to be a polished concert, but the enthusiasm musical arrangements, “On the surface, that may of the players nonetheless transferred itself to adapted to the not sound so unusual: the listeners too. needs of individual a dozen or so players participants. This of mandolin, mandola The music was chosen not only because of its reflected Keith’s firm and guitar got together, proven popular success both with players and belief that it’s more audiences, but especially because the selec- enjoyable to play rehearsed for three days, tions exemplify many musical and technical fewer notes but play and performed before aspects which Keith believes are worth exam- them nicely! Players a highly enthusiastic ining: of all levels made real audience. After only three contributions to the days, it was of course • Turkish March (Frajt) Charleston ensemble and moreover, all “work in progress”, and • Minuet (Haydn) participants felt that not intended to be a • Vivacite (Harris) they were better polished concert, but the • Echo (Andreou) players by the close of enthusiasm of the players • Two Tunes (Hadjidakis) the workshop. Mother and Sister nonetheless transferred The Boys of Piraeus itself to the listeners too.” • Song of Japanese Autumn (Kuwahara) In preparation for the workshop, Keith had All the music had been carefully annotated offered complementary sessions via Skype, with performance advice, so that every note coaching and gently nudging us so that contributed to the final result. We didn’t just everyone could “hit the ground running” in “play the tune”. Charleston. Both beforehand on the Internet and at the actual workshop, we benefitted constantly from the innovative, ergonomic Of course, the event didn’t just spontaneously and simply musical approach to mandolin happen. Rather, it was the result of much playing which Keith has developed over a careful planning since a similar workshop lifetime of observing and experimenting all a year ago in St. Augustine, Florida. One over the world. This was indeed “special,” of the 2018 workshop participants, John allowing us to look critically but objectively Holenko (multi-instrumentalist and co-owner at many conventional aspects of mandolin of Hungry Monk Music) hosted the February technique, and free ourselves from limitations 2019 Charleston workshop. His spacious ranging from posture through plectrum studio was perfect for the event, plus its technique and even up to use of the left hand. location allowed co-owner Hazel Ketchum, members of the Charleston Mandolin I’m more than happy, as on this occasion, to Orchestra and other musicians from the be the organizer of events with which Keith is surrounding area to participate. involved, for this reason: I simply don’t know anybody else with his breadth and depth of MAY 2019 17 knowledge and expertise about our instruments, “As a complete novice, I was sure I would be and ability to share it with other people. The overwhelmed. However, Keith and the workshop participants in Charleston, with mandolin expertise participants encouraged me and made me feel ranging from novice to accomplished, noticed this welcome. I learned important details: how in various ways: to communicate musically, how to hold the instrument properly, and that a pick is actually a “Charleston was, indeed, a special experience. I plectrum! (and the composition and placement of think Keith did a brilliant job of making sure that that plectrum is important, too!). I found a couple each of us, no matter how disparate our experience of works too difficult to undertake at this time, but and ability, came away with more knowledge and I was left with several simpler pieces that I am understanding of the mandolin and of music in confident in practicing, long after the workshop has general. I thought the choice of music was wonder- concluded.“ ful on multiple levels: range of technical difficulty; - Jannette Finch, Charleston Mandolin varied genres, moods, and time periods; and overall Orchestra beauty and enjoyability. At first I found the ca- denza in Song of Japanese Autumn quite daunting. However, using Keith’s sometimes surprising— but We look forward to seeing you at our next also surprisingly doable — technical and musical uniquely special happening. Keep an eye out for advice, I was surprised and delighted to find myself announcements, and please contact us if you’d like able to cope with its challenges in Charleston. How to be sent information as it becomes available. exciting it was to find that, with the right approach, the beautiful cadenza was within my reach! Thank Submitted by Bob Hammond you, Keith!” Member, and former Vice-President, CMSA - Lucille Bjorneby, Long Island Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra

Workshop participants, Keith Harris second from left. 18 MANDOLIN JOURNAL Short Reviews, Volume 10: Recordings of listening for anyone with an interest in mandolin- guitar duos, the easiest way to obtain a copy is to Interest get in touch with the Korsak and Collet via their By Robert A. Margo email address ([email protected]).

It used to be possible to review every recording of “Come un Volta,” Julien Martineau, significance for the CMSAJournal at leisure and mandolin; Concerto Italiano, with Renaldro length. No longer – there are just too many worthy Allesandrini, conductor. Naïve V5455. artists and too many worthy recordings. This is volume 10 of an occasional installment of “short reviews” – the tradeoff is less detail in return for timely information/opinion for CMSA members.

“Nébuleuse,” Natalia Korsak, mandolin, and Matthias Collet, classical guitar (Duo Korsak- Collet).

CMSA members who attended the 2017 convention in Milwaukee will have experienced Duo Korsak-Collet mandolin phenomenon Julien Martineau up close and personal. For others not so fortunate, Among the very best European performers today on this recording (along with the rest of Julien’s plucked strings, “Nébuleuse” is Korsak and Collet’s discography) can serve as a spectacular substitute. first recording as a duo. All of the works on the Three fifths of the repertoire – Vivaldi’s “Concerto CD are French, and except for two solo pieces, are in D Major” (RV 93), “Concerto for Mandolin in arrangements for mandolin and guitar. Among C Major,” (RV 425), and his “Trio Sonata in C the composers represented are some of greatest in Major” (RV 82 – have been recorded countless classical music – Berlioz (“Villanelle”), Debussy times but rarely as beautifully or with such (“La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin”), Messiaen attention to orchestra detail as offered here by the (“Regard De L’esprit De Joie”), and Ravel (“Valses distinguished harpsichordist and conductor Rinaldo Nobles et Sentimentales”) – along with other Allessandrini and his Concerto Italiano, among the leading lights of French music, such as Dutilleux world’s finest period ensembles. Somewhat off the (“Nébuleuse,” the recording’s namesake), Fauré beaten path but every bit the equal of the Vivaldi (“Après un Rêve”), and Poulenc (“La Maîtresse musically is Domenico Caudioso’s, “Concerto for Volage”). The arrangements, by Collet, are Mandolin in G Major,” from the Gimo collection remarkably skillful and idiomatic as to seem as – difficult for this reviewer to imagine a more if the pieces were written originally for plucked engaging performance. The highlight of the disc, strings, quite the accomplishment. The difficulty though, has to be the incandescent rendering of level of some of them, particularly the Dutilleux Raffaele Calace’s “Concerto for Mandolin No. 2 and Messiaen, is extreme (and, as such, break new in A Minor, Op. 144”. Not as well known among ground for mandolin and guitar duos); there are not mandolinists as Calace’s first concerto, let alone the many people in the world who could play them at general music public, Martineau and band make all, let alone as fluently and sensitively as Korsak a compelling case that No. 2 could function as the and Collet. Korsak’s solo outing is a new, highly mandolin equivalent of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concerto virtuosic theme and variations (“Variations Sur un de Arunjuez”, which propelled the classical guitar Theme De Jean-Claude Petit”) by Vincent Beer- to widespread popularity in the twentieth century. Demander while Collet offers a soulful, atmospheric For the purpose of the recording (and subsequent performance of Maurice Ohana’s “Sylva”. Essential MAY 2019 19 live performances) Martineau commissioned a new, interspersed with lovely, peaceful moments. As a utterly gorgeous orchestration of the Calace by mandolinist, Midkiff’s general sound world, tonal Yann Ollivo. Martineau’s signature sound, light, quality, and technique owe more to Bill Monroe airy and precise, is on full display, courtesy of his than Raffaele Calace, but he can certainly navigate Brian Dean bowl back, and new, proprietary strings the more difficult passages in his works (of which by Savarez. Naïve’s engineering and production there are many) with aplomb and finesse. The standards are world class, as expected. Available Carpe Diem quartet is a prominent national group, from all standard outlets, such as Amazon, and an and sounds like it on the recording, with the added absolute must for lovers of classical mandolin at its benefit that it members understand fiddle and finest. gypsy music, hardly a foregone conclusion in the string quartet world. Very highly recommended “Music for Mandolin and String Quartet,” --the easiest way to purchase a copy is through Jeff Midkiff, mandolin; Carpe Diem String Midkiff’s website, www.jeffmidkiff.com. Quartet “Sailing into the Wind,” Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra This beautifully produced and engineered CD celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra, one of Australia’s finest (and longest lived) mandolin orchestras. The current director of the MMO is Werner Ruecker, whose father Josef Ruecker co-founded the ensemble in 1967 and conducted its first concert in 1968. The repertoire on “Sailing into the Wind” includes pieces that the MMO performed on its 2018 late spring tour of Holland, France, Luxembourg and Germany, which ended up at the Eurfestival Zupfmusik in Bruchsal, Germany in May, where your faithful reviewer had the pleasure of hearing the group twice in person. Four of the works on the Jeff Midkiff is not a household name in CMSA but recording (“Hand-Painted Landscapes” by Stephen should be, on the basis of this recording. With an Lalor, “She Who Sails Into the Wind,” by Elena MM degree to his credit, Midkiff has performed Kats-Chernin, “Mettam’s Pool Suite,” by Robert widely on clarinet with numerous regional Schulz, and “Darkness and Light,” by Werner symphonies and opera companies. He is also a Ruecker”) are recent commissions/gifts to the distinguished educator (and recognized as such by orchestra; of these my personal favorites are the a 2017 award from Yale University), working as pieces by Lalor and (especially) Ruecker, but all are a music teacher and as orchestra director for the superb additions to the contemporary repertoire. Roanoke (VA) public school system. At the same Ruecker’s formidable skills as an arranger are on time, he has been a professional mandolinist on the full display with two Piazzolla tangos (“Oblivion” side, appearing with many well-known bluegrass and “Ave Maria”); for good measure, the recording ensembles over the years. The new CD marries includes two German chestnuts, “Suite No. 6” by his primary interests in two substantial original Hermann Ambrosius, and “Suite No. 2” by Konrad works for mandolin and string quartet, “From Wölki. In a word, the MMO is incredible on the the Blue Ridge” (Quintet No. 1 for Mandolin and recording – gorgeous sound, deep musicality, and Strings) and “Gypsy” (Quintet No. 2 for Mandolin exceptionally tight ensemble. Unless you happen and Strings”) plus a brief, virtuosic encore also to attend one of their gigs in Australia the simplest for mandolin and strings, “Run for Your Life”. As way to purchase a copy is through the group’s a composer, Midkiff is highly skilled at formal website at www.melbournemandolinorchestra.com. structures; his melodic and harmonic palette draws (at least to my ears) on Brahms and the like, along with popular idioms (jazz, folk, and country). Of the two quintets, the second is more adventuresome musically, but both feature plenty of fireworks 20 MANDOLIN JOURNAL Desert Island Discs: Classical Mandolin’s in Philadelphia, Portland, and Minneapolis. Old- timers will recall his conducting the En Masse Classic Recordings, Volume 4: Keith Harris group at conventions in the 1990s and, even earlier, By Robert A. Margo his invaluable assistance to Norman Levine when CMSA was getting off the ground. Few, I would Back in the day of Stereo Review and similar music wager, are fully aware of Keith’s widespread magazines, record critics frequently published concertizing early in his career and, especially, the lists of “desert island discs” – recordings of such singular importance of his 1980 recording, “The merit that one could take them to the proverbial Virtuoso Mandolin” (TVM). desert island. This is the second in a series of short articles about “desert island discs” of classical After graduating from the University of Sydney mandolin music. Because there is no objective where he studied music and languages, Harris definition of what constitutes a desert island disc, moved to Europe in the late 1970s, where he began 1 the list is obviously personal. Nevertheless, a list an international performing career. TVM was maker should have compelling reasons as to why recorded by Hyperion Records, then (and now) a a particular recording is desert-island worthy, major classical label. It was one of the first digital and I shall offer them – the music is inherently recordings ever made and, ironically, one of the last important in the history of the instrument; the to appear first on LP – the compact disc was just performance is transcendental; the recording is a around the corner. Although TVM sold especially significant departure from past practice, pointing well for plucked strings, revenues were insufficient a path forward. Most importantly, a desert island for Hyperion to remaster and re-issue the LP on disc is one to which you can listen repeatedly and CD. Recently, however, David Podeschi of T-P never tire. These are the recordings that should Productions in Texas took on this task and with be in every classical mandolin collection, in my the assistance of Clara Oppel (artwork) and CMSA (humble) opinion. member Alice Derbyshire (whom Keith describes as the “moving force” behind the reissue) a remastered “The Virtuoso Mandolin”. Keith Harris, CD has finally became available. mandolin, domra; Leslie Howard, piano. Originally released on LP by Hyperion in Most of the repertoire – 7 of the 11 tracks – are 1980. CD re-issue by David Podeschi, T-P arrangements of familiar violin and piano works Productions. Available from www.cdbaby. by Fritz Kreisler (“Schön Rosmarin,” “Liebesleid,” com. and “Liebesfreud”), Sergei Rachmaninov (“Danse tziganes”), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (“The Flight of the Bumble Bee,” and “Concert Fantasy, Op. 33”), and Pablo de Sarasate (“Zegeunerweisen Op. 20”). On these, Harris plays the violin part on either mandolin or domra, and is accompanied superbly by Leslie Howard, a distinguished concert pianist in his own right, and Australian by birth, like Harris. There are three modern works originally for domra/mandolin and piano, one by Howard (“Ramble on a Russian Theme”) and the other two by Armin Kaufman (“Burletta” and “Mitoka Dragomina”). Last and certainly not least, there is one solo mandolin piece, Calace’s “Prelude Nr. 2”.

TVM was widely reviewed (for a mandolin recording) and very favorably so. It also turned heads among the bluegrass/newgrass crowd, resulting in a prominent interview by Dix Bruce Most of today’s CMSA members know Keith Harris in Mandolin World News (Vol. 8, no. 1, spring from his regular articles in the CMSA Journal on 1982, pp. 5-13), and a performance by Harris at mandolin technique. Some will be familiar with a David Grisman concert. Some four decades his compositions, having played them with the later Harris’s playing on TVM remains extremely En Masse orchestras at the recent conventions MAY 2019 21 impressive – desert-island quality – for its elegant and, pointedly, mandolin technique have evolved tonal quality; technical precision (evident at high radically. Although few could have anticipated virtuoso levels on “Bumble Bee”); and, above all, it at the time, TVM came at the end of one era of sheer musical intelligence. Ca. 1980 there were mandolin performance practice, and on the cusp of few mandolinists anywhere who could give an a new era, particularly in Germany, where Harris acceptable performance of a Calace prelude, let has worked for most of his adult life. For this alone of the quality of Harris’s rendering of the reason, it remains one of the central recordings in second prelude. It is all the more remarkable, the history of classical mandolin, and its timely therefore, to learn that the Calace was the first and re-release on CD allows a new generation to only take – in effect, a live performance – because take pleasure in its abundant musical qualities. the acoustical environment had been disturbed to Speaking as someone who owns a copy of the LP, accommodate photos for the album cover, and there the remastering, by the way, is outstanding, as is was no time left in the recording session for a do- the artistic production. over. In recognition of the unusual circumstances, the Calace piece is the only track retaining its The remastered version of “The Virtuoso Mandolin” original sound, sort of like a time capsule. is available from https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/ keithharris32. For the vinyl-addicted or anyone After making TVM Harris attended the new who would like a copy of the original liner notes, mandolin program at conservatory in Wuppertal, used copies of the LP are often available on Ebay or Germany, graduating with performance and music Amazon. certificates (evidently the first person to do so). He continued to perform in public for many years but (Endnotes) eventually withdrew from the concert stage due to 1 If, however, I seem to be ignoring your favorite player/ illness, subsequently concentrating on conducting, recording as the series unfolds, email me -- I will consider composing, and teaching. As everyone knows suggestions (but no promises!). My email address is (and if not, he points out in the revealing liner [email protected]. notes to the new release) his views on repertoire

2018 Santa Rosa Convention Financial Recap • Concert donations were $2,750. This is way higher than at least the last 5 years. By Tarisa Tognetti and Lou Chouinard • The raffle brought in $2,250. Again, this is a 5 What a great time was had at the Santa Rosa year record. convention! • These may have been all time records. We didn’t look back farther than the What a great turnout we had. Paid attendance last 5 years. was about 25% higher than expected at about 124 playing registrations, 10 non-playing registrations, • We were able to negotiate 15 free room nights and 11 day registrations. This was great news as for the performers. This saved CMSA about we didn’t know how many people would attend a $2,400. November convention. • We are able to secure a $5,000 Tourism grant After expecting to lose money on the convention, from the city of Santa Rosa. the convention income exceeded expenses by $8,150! A special thank you goes out to those people who donated their honorariums back to CMSA! In addition to the increased attendance (which has a large positive effect on convention net income), CMSA congratulates the Santa Rosa Host other major contributors to the surplus are – Committee who worked very hard to bring us a hugely successful convention! 22 MANDOLIN JOURNAL

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Mandolin Teachers - Schools ARIZONA MARYLAND NEW YORK VIRGINIA Aleksandra Alexander Joyce Adams Joseph Brent Mark Freemantle 5116 E. Adams St. 6944 Gunder Ave Washington Heights, NY Northern Virginia, VA Tucson AZ 85712 Baltimore, MD 21220 Phone:406-322-2720 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Phone: 410-335-6053 (or Skype: joebrent) Website: www.mandoleers.org Email: [email protected] Website: www.josephbrent.com David Neice WASHINGTON 5650 N. Placita Amanecer Joanathan Rudie Tamara Volskaya Geoff Wilke Tucson, AZ 85718 4 Maryland Ave. 435 Neptune Ave. Apt. 20B Seattle, WA Phone: 303-621-6769 Towson, MD 21286 Brooklyn, NY 11224 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Phone: 410-419-0440 Phone: 718-743-8264 Phone: 206-779-8000 [email protected] WISCONSIN ARKANSAS Alan Epstein Cheryl Kuhaupt Clarke Buehling MASSACHUSETTS 173 Mahaffy Road Hartford Music Center Fayetteville, AK Robert Margo Greenwich, NY 1350 East Sumner St. [email protected] West Newton MA 02465 [email protected] Hartford, WI 53024 Email: [email protected] Phone: 1-518-817-8050 Phone: 262-673-4740 CALIFORNIA Phone: 617-527-4904 Email: [email protected] Evan Marshall Website: Wayne Fugate [email protected] http://www.namandolinensemble.com/ Chester, NY 10918 Terri Schmit www.EvanJMarshall.com pages/bios/bmargo.html [email protected] 2099 County Road E http://waynefugate.com Blue Mounds, WI 53517 Achille Bocus Joanne Sheehan 1-608-437-1944 1022 53rd St. North Easton, MA 02356 OREGON [email protected] Oakland, CA 94608 Email: [email protected] Tim Connell Email: [email protected] Phone: 508-238-2237 Portland, OR CANADA Website: www.iltremolo.com www.timconnellmusic.com Ginger Kautto available for online lessons MICHIGAN [email protected] 626 Bathurst St Brian Oberlin 503-349-8873 Toronto, ON M5S 2R1 Gus Garelick PO Box 272 Available for lessons onlin [email protected] :3657 Hacienda Drive Rockford, MI Santa Rosa, CA 95405 (503)-686-8673 PENNSYLVANA Susan McLaughlin Phone: (707) 526-7763 [email protected] Charley Rappaport 3064 Cameron St. [email protected] www.mandoberlin.com Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Regina, SK S4S 1W5 Music Director, Gravenstein Mandolin Professional mandolin player and Phone: (814) 440-2555 306-741-5678 Ensemble educator. Brian has 3 Mandolin Camps [email protected] [email protected] around the USA and teaches private All mandolin family instruments CONNECTICUT lessons. Tenor Guitar Jonathan Bélanger Mark Davis Balalaika and Domra Montreal Canada 158 E. Old Route 6 Jackie Zito 514-622-3443 Hampton, CT 06247 Kalamazoo, MI Joseph Todaro Phone: 860-455-2056 Website: www.kalmando.com 28 N Lansdowne Ave GERMANY Email: [email protected] Lansdowne, PA 19050 Keith Harris Gean Vincent Almendras (610) 623-3555 Kaempfrasen 26 Mark Levesque Ann Arbor/Flint MI [email protected] 35037 Marburg, Germany 180 Washington Street Email: [email protected] Worldfrets.com Tel.: + 49-6421-952344 Vernon, CT 06066 Also teaches violin, bandurria & beg. Classical Guitar, Mandolin, Charango, mobile: + 49 176 800 22 531 Phone: 860-871-1815 guitar Ronroco, Ukulele www.mandolin-lessons.com Email: [email protected] available for online lessons Website: www.judyandmark.com Francesco Cavallini RHODE ISLAND Ann Arbor, MI Josh Bell Chris Acquavella KENTUCKY [email protected] 324 Rochambeau Lessingstr. 13 Michael Schroeder Providence, RI 02906 32756 Detmold, Germany 2643 Park Drive MINNESOTA Phone: 401-345-6930 Phone: +49 176 30603413 Louisville, KY 40205 Lou Chouinard [email protected] Email: [email protected] Phone: 502-451-0045 (h) 3925 30th Avenue South Website: www.chrisacquavella.com 502-876-5121 (c) Minneapolis, MN 55406-3108 Marilynn Mair [email protected] Phone: 612-724-6009 271 Hillside Ave. SPAIN Email: [email protected] Pawtucket, RI 02860 JULIÁN CARRIAZO BEAMUD IDAHO http://www.marilynnmair.com Conservatorio Profesional de Música Becky Smith Jim Plattes [email protected] de Plasencia 22139 Eel lane, 6125 Morgan Ave. S 10600 PLASENCIA-CÁCERES SPAIN Middleton, ID 83644 Minneapolis, MN 55419-2012 TENNESEE [email protected] Phone: 208-585-3384 http://www.wildgypsy.com Ted and Norma Davis [email protected] 205 Engel Rd KOREA ILLINOIS 1-612-861-2954 Loudon, TN 37774 Bikei Kim Joel Simpson Phone: 615-458-5493 102 ho, 18-17 Rob Curtis MISSOURI Gaehwadong-ro 7-gil Tobias Music Bruce Graybill TEXAS Gangseo-gu 5013 Fairview Ave. PO Box 222 Rich DelGrosso Seoul, Korea 07504 Downers Grove, IL 60514 Pleasant Hill, MO 64080 10938 Tulip Garden Ct. [email protected] Phone: 816-540-4774 Houston, TX 77065 (630)960-2455 brucegraybill.com www.mandolinblues.com [email protected] Rob Curtis NEW JERSEY available for online lessons Elgin Community College Barry Mitterhoff 1700 Spartan Drive 3 Nicole Ct. Elgin, IL 60123-7193 Scotch Plains, NJ 07076 (847)214-7188 Phone: 908-654-4245 [email protected] Classical Mandolin Society of America CMSA Mandolin Journal 3925 30th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55406-3108

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