Issue #69
Last Update October 31, 2010
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Arts New York Mandolin Orchestra June Concert by David Katz June 10, 2007 The New York Mandolin Orchestra is one of New York's oldest amateur orchestras. Founded in 1924, it has an uninterrupted history of presenting classical, ethnic and jazz music to an eager public. Mandolins come in variations that parallel a string orchestra, with first and second mandolins playing first and second violin parts, mandolas substituting for violas, and mandocellos and mandobasses handling the traditional cello and bass parts. The New York Mandolin Orchestra supplemented these instruments at its latest concert with oboe, violin and concertina. Ably conducted by Jeffrey Ellenberger, this concert spanned musical styles from Bach to the Beatles.
Mandolins work particularly well in Baroque and Classical music. Their sweet and plangent tone, and the crispness of note separation that comes from a plucked, rather than a bowed instrument, made the Bach “Little Fugue” a delight to listen to. Prospero Canciello's Overture in G, Bach's Concerto in D Minor and G. B. Gervasio's Sonata per Mandolino e Basso were other Baroque treats. Soloists for these pieces included Spenser Katzman, Marvin Gordon, Bob Rose and Andrew Blitzer, mandolins, and Alberto Jaccoma, mandocello. Classical pieces included Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4, Calace's Corale, Beethoven's Scherzo Op. 18 No. 4, and the later composers Dvorak (Serenade Op. 44), Massenet (“Meditation” from Thais) and Adam Morgan (Tendresse Pour Hautbois). Soloists for these pieces included Andrew Blitzer, mandolin, Harvey Weitzner, mandola, Alberto Jaccoma, mandocello, Beryl Chang, violin, and Gerard Reuter, oboe. Mr. Reuter also served as guest conductor for a number of pieces in this concert.
The orchestra also did well with contemporary music, jazz pieces such as In a Sentimental Mood, a Duke Ellington piece with Bernard Brachfeld's concertina solos, Jay Unger's Ashokan Farewell, well known to viewers of NPR's Civil War series, George Shearing's Lullaby of Birdland, Smokey Robinson's My Girl, and Lennon/McCartney's When I'm Sixty-four, with a whistling solo by Irene Roberts.
The versatility of this group is clear from the expansiveness of the program. This latest concert upheld the standards of almost eighty years of orchestra music-making: amateur musicians having fun, and the audience having fun too.
New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com