Thursday, October 12, 6:30-7:30pm
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Shoreview, MN
Conducted by Lon Hendricks
Black Rover |
Arthur J. Weidt, 1866-1945 |
We kick off the program with an example of what was contemporary music for mandolin orchestras 100 years ago. A.J. Weidt published this jaunty march in the May 1923 issue of The Cadenza. |
Concerto alla Rustica |
Antonio Vivaldi, 1678-1741 |
Vivaldi has a special place in the heart of all classical mandolinists, being the most-prominent composer of music featuring mandolins during the baroque period. There are three movements: Presto, Adagio, and Allegro. While this piece was originally scored for a string orchestra with two oboes, we think you'll love the Venetian sound from our mandolin orchestra. |
Red Wing |
Frederic Allen Mills, 1869-1948 |
F.A. Mills borrowed the theme from Robert Schumann's 1848 "The Happy Farmer, Returning from Work," a staple of many instrument method books, for the A section of this tune. The original lyrics of the tune have been replaced for diverse occasions, such as drumming up British support for the war in 1916, striking union workers in 1940 by Woody Guthrie, and Lon's introduction of the various sections composing the mandolin orchestra. |
Schroeder's Idea |
John Goodin, 1951-2021 |
In 1998 Mike Schroeder had the vision to found the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra,, which would become one of the premier mandolin orchestras in America. Our friend John Goodin was a founding member of that orchestra and wrote this medley to portray the early rotation that the LMO played. |
Elliot |
Glen Edward Newton, 1947- |
Glen in our mandola/octave-mandolin section wrote a two-movement suite to share his enthusiasm with his two Maine Coon show cats, Elliot and Shoshana, who's antics are depicted in our rotation this year. We perform only "Elliot" tonight, but you'll hear that Elliot is quite the hepcat, evident during the film-noir-esque riffs. |
Venture Forth |
Benjamin Gieseke, contemporary |
Ben has played in our first-mandolin section and has composed several orchestral pieces for MMO, published a suite of mandolin quartets, and several solo albums -- most recently Borne Aloft. You can check out his work on YouTube. |
Nowhere Man |
John Lennon, 1940-1980, & Paul McCartney, 1942- |
This song is reportedly the result of an epiphany John had laying down after abandoning an unproductive 5-hour songwriting morning. It's the earliest example of a Beatles' song eschewing themes of love or romance. |
Acerta O Passo |
Pixinguinha, 1897-1973 |
Pixinguinha (Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho) was one of Brazil's most prolific composers. While he didn't found choro music, he revitalized it incorporating jazz-like harmonies and Brazilian rhythms, spreading his gospel groove over the radio and via studio recordings. "Acerta O Passo" has become a choro standard, though translations of the idiomatic title have not -- "step up," "set the pace," "hit it," "right step," "rhythm".... |
Miserlou |
traditional |
Lon, our artistic director and conductor, arranged this version of a middle-eastern folk tune that frequented many Arabic, Greek, and Jewish musical circles in the 1920s, with each group having some etymological claim to the name. It peppered U.S. radio in the 40's with Harry James' orchestral 1941 version and in 1947 with Jan August on the piano, though you might be more familiar with Dick Dale's 1962 version appearing in 1994's Pulp Fiction or as sampled by the Black-eyed Peas for "Pump It" in 2006. |
Lara's Theme |
Maurice Jarre, 1924-2009 |
Maurice Jarre composed three Academy-Award winning scores: Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India, and, significant to this tune, 1965's Doctor Zhivago."Lara's Theme" serves as a leitmotif for the soundtrack and was hastily composed over the course of a weekend after director David Lean failed to get the rights to use a well-known Russian tune. The melody was originally played on balalaika, but we hope that you agree that mandolins make a fine substitute. |
FilAm Dance Suite |
Christi-Anne Castro, contemporary |
Christi-Anne Castro is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, whose speciality includes Filipino music. She wrote this suite for the 2022 Classical Mandolin Society of America's annual en-masse orchestra, which many of our players performed along with about 110 of our good friends. |