Sentimental mood music
done with skill and taste. The mandolin
with its balalaika accent meets the
serenading guitar. The selection is
generous and the choice well guided.
It will not do as unassuming audio muzak.
It mixes eras in a lively way.
Much of the music is
at a slow pulse and some has a sultry
Iberian savour. The Paganini follows
the superb Piazzolla suite. Freshly
inventive pieces such as the fast chant
determination of the Kangro contrast
with the spiffing nineteenth century
flashiness and tremolo of the Munier
pieces. The Aria variata is well worth
getting to know.
I expected the Sumera
to be worth waiting for and it was.
It starts with strummed chords from
the guitar like the riffs from Pinball
Wizard with the mandolin keeping
up a fast-pecking pulse. The mandolin
is called on to chuckle and hesitate
but both instruments also have to keep
up regular minimalistic ostinati; neither
is allowed exclusive lead status. The
mandolin's ascent to dizzily plucked
heights at 3.15 is specially memorable.
How surprising as well to find Kodaly
arranging Bach for guitar and mandolin
... but it works well
The Preema, Kangro
and Sumera pieces were specially written
for Bagger and Tewes. They were the
arrangers of the Marucelli, Munier and
Paganini.
The contrived slider
fade at the end of My Way (the
last track) was, I think, a miscalculation
however you can programme the sequence
from your remote - although how many
do?
Rob Barnett