Entries About Mandolin

Bach Concerto for 2 Violins on 2 Mandolins

13th February 2011

Here is a new video. My album is also now available from CD Baby and iTunes.

CD Baby
iTunes

My Album "Bach on Mandolin" Out Now

15th December 2010

My Bach Album played on fretted instruments (mainly mandolin) is now available to buy both as a physical CD, or digital download. I've been wanting to record something like this for a while, and I finally got round to doing it! It contains several duets for mandolin and guitar, and trio pieces for mandolin, guitar and mandola, as well as four multi-track concertos played on as many tracks as was sensible. I also challenged myself to learn a solo sonata. It's a mixture of my favourite Bach pieces, as well as some popular ones (which also happen to be favourites).

I've also recorded video for 3 of the tracks, the first of which is the first track off the album: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, 1st Movement.

It will be available from CD Baby and all the other digital music places like iTunes very soon, but for now it can also be purchased direct from me via this website (see link on right).

Hope you enjoy it.

Here is the track listing:

1. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, 1st Movement - Allegro (BWV 1048)
2. Invention No. 1 in C Major (BWV 772)
3. Invention No. 13 in A Minor (BWV 779)
4. Violin Concerto in E Major, 3rd Movement - Allegro Assai (BWV 1042)
5. Goldberg Variation No. 1 in G Major (BWV 988)
6. Goldberg Variation No. 21 in G Minor (BWV 988)
7. Trio Sonata for Organ in Eb Major, 3rd Movement - Allegro (BWV 525)
8. Sonata No.1 for Solo Violin in G Minor, 4th Movement - Presto (BWV 1001)
9. French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, 4th & 5th Movements - Menuet-Trio (BWV 814)
10. Trio Sonato in F Major (BWV 1040)
11. Ouverture No. 2 in B Minor, 7th Movement - Badinerie (BWV 1067)
12. Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: No. 23 in B Major, Prelude & Fugue (BWV 868)
13. English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, 5th Movement - Bourrée 1 (BWV 807)
14. Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, 1st Movement - Vivace (BWV 1043)
15. Sinfonia No. 11 in G Minor (BWV 797)

Converting an Octave Mandolin to a Mandola

2nd November 2010

I put some mandolin strings (J74's) on my Octave Mandolin (GDAE an octave lower than mandolin), but tuned them to Mandola tuning (CGDA), and using an online string tension calculator, checked the tensions, and they are within acceptable parameters. Sounds good. So if you have an old octave mandolin lying around, and you want to convert it to a Mandola, just put some Mandolin strings on it. You shouldn't need to adjust the truss rod, but you might have some problems with the nut slots being a bit too wide or deep, but nothing a piece of paper jammed underneath wouldn't fix. I used this "Mandola" to record many of the Mandola parts on my Bach Album.