SIMON MAYOR - The Mandolin Albums
Acoustics CDACS071
Mention the mandolin as a solo instrument and one immediately thinks of Simon Mayor and his mandolin albums, but it is only recently, or so I thought, that this has been the case. So it came as quite a shock to find that this double CD is celebrating 25 years since the release of The Mandolin Album, with the Second following not long after.
It was, as the excellent booklet notes which accompany this disc tell us, a real struggle to convince record publishers to put out an album comprising mostly music written for, and played on, the mandolin. This meant Simon had to do it himself with encouragement from Hilary James, who provides vocals and bass here, with immediate success.
At least six albums followed before the first two were revisited, and I for one am glad this is available again. If you haven’t heard it check out The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba - yes it is the Handel one - to see how good this instrument can be. The Concerto For Two Mandolins, pre-dating a much more recent and well known banjo piece, is equally as good.
Valuable contributions are made by Hilary James, percussionist Simon Price and saxophonist Alan Whetton, but it is the virtuosity of Simon Mayor that makes this a welcome re-issue.
www.mandolin.co.uk
Dave Beeby
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 117 of The Living Tradition magazine. |