If you go
The Baltimore Mandolin Quartet
Where: Mansion, The Music Center at Strathmore
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Info: General admission, call for availability; 301-581-5100
If the sound of “quartetto romantico” strikes an appealing chord within, then the combined richness of bowl-back mandolins, mandola and classical guitar is sure to please aficionados of string ensembles in the Italian tradition. “[Ours] is a sound immediately appealing, but people seldom get a chance to hear it,” said Jonathan Jensen, the mandola player in the Baltimore Mandolin Quartet performing this afternoon at the Music Center at Strathmore.
String ensembles, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, had reason to flourish because a wealth of compositions had been created for groups performing on fretted instruments. The Baltimore Mandolin Quartet (an offshoot of the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra) was founded in 1999 expressly to bring these works of past masters to today’s audiences. Additionally, the quartet’s love of the genre prompts new arrangements of the classic works as well as original compositions.
The group consists of Dave Evans and Laura Norris performing on mandolins, Tony Norris on classical guitar, and Silver Spring native Jensen accompanying them on his mandola.
“Between us there are 30 strings to make a lot of sound,” he said. “There’s a lot we can do texturally with our orchestral transcriptions.”
The evening’s repertoire will highlight the group’s versatility with pieces that run the gamut from “Tarantella Vaga” written by Primo Silvestri and Guiseppe Verdi’s Quartet from “Rigoletto” to Duke Ellington’s immortal composition “Come Sunday.”
A work titled “Hues of Dusk” was written specifically for the group by Victor Kioulaphides, a classical bass player and mandolin enthusiast who lives in New York.
“We try to pick pieces that show different aspects of classical mandolin music,” said guitarist Tony Norris. “There are fast pieces that show David and Laura’s mandolin skills and other pieces that show the melodic, singing character of the mandolin.”
Other works presented will include Jensen’s original composition “Waltz for Diane” and the Bohemian Dance from Bizet’s “Carmen.”
“This program is somewhat difficult because the mood and style of the pieces are so varied,” Norris said. “It’s a fun program, though, and it shows off the mandolin well.”
