Pamela Marshall's Mandolin Music on CD
Mandolin X 4 from Plucked String
Includes Mandolin Night for
solo mandolin
The disc Mandolin X 4, released in November 1998, features
several styles of mandolin music:
- Neil Gladd, playing Mandolin Night by Pamela Marshall and a classical mandolin/violin duo by Johann Hoffman
- Barry Mitterhoff, new acoustic and bluegrass
- Charley Rappaport, ethnic
- Terry Pender and Amy Duggins, mandolin and voice
Pamela Marshall writes about Neil's performance:
"I was thrilled by the delicacy and expressiveness of Neil's playing. He's always told me that I wrote a difficult piece, but he makes it sound calm and serene in the slow middle section, and aggressive but precise in the active opening and ending. The active retunings
of one of the G strings (retuning while playing a repeated note) after the slow section, first down a quarter tone, and then down to Eb) heighten the sense of drama each time."
Mandolin Night, a virtuosic, 4-minute piece, is available in print in Three Centuries of Solo Mandolin Music, edited by Neil Gladd. Neil premiered the piece in 1985 at the Women's Music Festival at Boston University and has played it on concert tours of Europe and the U.S.
To quote Neil Gladd's notes:
"It makes use of several unusual techniques such as picking the strings with the thumb, glissandos, duo-style (tremolo melody with non-tremolo accompaniment) and scordatura (unusual tunings). One of the E strings is tuned to a C# throughout, and one of the G strings is tuned down twice while playing."
Mandolin Night is publsihed in Three Centuries of Solo Mandolin Music (PSE 029)
Both the book and CD may still be available from Best Music Source on EBay (which bought the stock of publisher Plucked String Inc.)
Enigmatica: Debut CD from the Enigmatica Mandolin Ensemble
Includes Blue-Gold Variations from Loosely Blue for mandolin ensemble (mandolins, mandolas and mandocellos)
Pamela Marshall writes about the CD:
"Enigmatica did a great job performing Loosely Blue and when they chose to add the third movement to their almost completed CD, I was pleased and flattered. The new piece I had written for them had found a place in their hearts."
Available from marilynnmair.com, Uncommon Strings on Amazon
