PRELUDE by VICTOR KIOULAPHIDES on Liuto moderno (5x2 Mandoloncello) of the Mandolin family.
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- The Prelude by Victor Kioulaphides played by Alex Timmerman on the Liuto moderno, one of the largest instruments in the mandolin family.
The Prelude by Victor Kioulaphides is the first of five dances belonging to the Suite for Ali. It was composed for the English mandolin virtuosa Alison Stephens, who premiered it at the Dartington Festival in 2009.
The composition is intended as a tribute to all the great masters of the High Baroque. The composition is meant to be performed either on the (octave) mandola (GDAE) or on the mandolin.
Here the Prelude is played by Alex Timmerman on a Liuto moderno; one of the largest instruments of the mandolin family. This large plectrum played instrument with its five double metal strings was developed around 1890 in Italy as the tenor/bass mandolin of the Mandolin family. Most likely by Pasquale Vinaccia, a descendant of the famous Neapolitan Vinaccia luthier family, who is responsible for numerous innovations related to the construction of the existing instruments and development of new instruments for the mandolin family. The tuning of the Liuto moderno is in fifths and except for the highest string pair the same as that of the Mandoloncello (CC-GG-DD-AA); the highest string pair is tuned another fifth higher, to EE. The Liuto moderno unites with its tuning both the (octave) mandola as well as the mandoloncello in itself. And that is, apart from the fact that it is such a wonderful piece, the reason why the Liuto moderno is chosen to play Kioulaphides Prelude from the Suite for Ali. No alterations needed, right at pitch and as it was intended to sound.
The Liuto moderno, also known as the Liuto cantabile, seen in the video was made in 1925 by the sons of Giuseppe Puglisi Reale in the Roman style. The Roman type differs from the Neapolitan type because of its V-shaped neck; radius fingerboard, bridge design and sideway placed tuning mechanics at the slotted headstock.
It is strung with five pairs of metal strings and played with a plectrum. The strings used here are custom made by the German String Makers Firm FISOMA. The highest pair is made of plain steel, while the other four string pairs are all bronze wound over a plain steel core. The Luito moderno was, like the Mandoloncello, mainly used to play the tenor parts in Mandolin orchestras. These orchestra models developed into large sized instruments. The repertoire does however list the Liuto moderno as a solo instrument as there are the fine solo compositions and an unequaled method by Raffaele Calace (1863 1934). The music is written down in the treble clef for the four highest string pairs and in the bass clef for the lowest (5th) string pair. Orchestra parts are mostly notated entirely in the bass clef, although occasionally the treble clef is used. Raffaele Calace, as a virtuoso on the Liuto moderno, was also responsible for the popularity of the instrument in Italy ánd abroad. Besides being a composer and performer Raffaele Calace managed a musical instrument atelier of great fame. And it is because of his research and insight into the construction of the larger instruments of the mandolin family that a Liuto cantabile with a smaller egg-shaped sound corpus with a long neck was developed. Raffaele Calace can therefore be seen as the person who perfected the Liuto moderno by creating a model designed especially for soloists to play the solo repertoire. That is why we have two main Liuto moderno models; the large orchestra model and the more manageable soloist version.
Unfortunately, and in my opinion entirely unjustified, the popularity of the Liuto moderno vanished after World War II, as was the case with the Chitarrone moderno, the Mandoloncello and the Alto mandolin (Mandoliola). Their role in mandolin orchestras and plectrum quartets was taken over by respectively the Double bass, the Spanish guitar and the (octave) Mandola. This video hopes to show that in our modern time the Liuto moderno, with its own sound, still has a role to play. Both, as a soloist instrument and as an instrument in an orchestra or ensemble strength.
Alex Timmerman - May 2010.
To learn more about Victor Kioulaphides and his compositions, please visit his website:home.earthlink.....
To download pdfs and soundfiles of music for mandolin including the Suite for Ali composed by Victor Kioulaphides for free, please visit this web page: www.paperclipde...
AMAZING!!! That you play this (rather difficult) piece on the liuto is in and of itself nothing short of a miracle; that you play it with so much inner feeling, such well shaped phrasing and impeccable timing, well... that's just "the Alex touch". BRAVO!
What a wonderful instrument, sound, piece, and performer.
Wow!
bravo
Hello lelloferraro,
Thanks for your comment. Indeed these are large and fully resonating instruments. The one I play at the video has a 68,5 cm mensura. That is like that of the Violoncello.
Best, Alex Timmerman.
Beautiful melody. Breathtaking instrument. I play a regular bowlback mandolin. It looks like a toy miniature compared to this!
This would be cool to transfer to guitar!
What an amazing sound and remarkable technique! Is that instrument tuned in fifths like a mandocello? Quite amazing I'd like to see a close view of how you manage that large fret board. Wonderful video!
I own (I don't dare to tell I play) such instrument. I seldom use itbecause the guy who made it, meant to make a kind of an experiment He wanted to build a mandoloncello which "diapason" is as long as the cello's one So, my instrument has got a long lasting resonance but it's too hard to handle
Hi Alex, great sound, excellent playing.
Alex, I wonder if you could help me, I am a Luthier and would love to make this beautiful instrument. Do you know where I could possibly find working drawings? If not, some measurements perhaps, such as string length Diapason, body length, width, neck length.
It is hard, to find information especially on this type of instruments. I ‘ll be grateful if you could help, so that we can keep or perhaps revive these beauties. Keep it up Alex, great work
Theo
It's tuned like a 5 String Violin but an octave lower
Love this sound Alex - do you play it often - it would be fun to write a piece for it (and you) - 5 courses? i love my 76cm lute in D.
Existe algerian mandole in mandoline family
Great! How is the instrument tuned? (definitely higher than a cello)
Like a cello with a high E string added. C-G-D-A-E