Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association

Orchestral Music

There are many types of music available for plucked string orchestras. Below are listed several pieces which the LGMA orchestras have played:

  • Music of the 17th Century:

    • Baroque style:

    • The Fairy Queen - Henry Purcell (arr. Marga Wilden Huesgen)
      • Prelude
      • Hornpipe
      • Air
      • Rondeau
      • Prelude
      • Entrydance
      • Hornpipe

  • Music of the 18th Century:

    • Voluntary - William Boyce (Baroque style)
      Boyce (1711 - 1779) is one of the most important English composers of the 18th Century. This Voluntary, originally written for two trumpets, was adapted for two solo mandolins and mandolin orchestra.
    • Concerto All' Unisono - Evaristo Felice dall'Abaco (Baroque style)
      • Alegro
      • Largo
      • Presto
      An Italian composer and violinist, dall'Abaco launched his musical career as a violinist with Tommaso Antonio Vitali in Modena, and in 1704 he joined the court of Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria as Kammermusiker. Abaco was only a few months in Munich, when he was forced to flee with the court to Brussels, following Maximilian's defeat at the Battle of Blenheim. On Maximilian's restoration and return to Munich, in 1715, dall'Abaco was appointed Concert-meister. He continued to compose chamber music at the French and Dutch courts until 1740 when he retired.

      Dall'Abaco's music is especially indebted to Vivaldi and Corelli. However, when he went into exile with the Munich court, he spent time in France and absorbed some of the influences there.

      This work, for mandolin and guitar orchestra makes vast use of scale runs. It is very interesting as both the first and second mandolins play the same part in this concerto, except for the second movement when a solo mandolin features.
    • Trumpet Tune - Jeremiah Clarke (Baroque style)
    • Prince of Denmark's March - Jeremiah Clarke (Baroque style)
      Clarke (1674 - 1707) is a well known composer for both of the above pieces, originally for Trumpet and Keyboard respectively, the orchestra played an arrangement of these pieces.
    • Prelude to Te Deum - Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Baroque style)
      This piece by Charpentier (1643 - 1704) is commonly known as the Eurovision theme tune. Originally for strings, this piece was arranged for mandolin and guitar orchestra.Da Capo Alba often played this well known piece at the very beginning of their concerts. The joyous mood would set the tone for an enjoyable evening.
    • Symphony in F - Carl Friedrich Schwindl (Classical style)
      This beautiful piece by Schwindl (1737 - 1786) consists of three movements. The first movement, Allegro, is written in sonata form with all its characteristic parts. The second movement is slow and cantabile, the third again fast. For the audience, it is an interesting piece to listen to, and for the orchestra, a piece from which to learn the fundamentals of the music from classical times.
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  • Music of the 19th Century:

    • Peer Gynt Suite - Edvard Greig (arr. D Tewes) (Romantic style)
      • Morning Mood
      • Anitra's Dance
      Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843 - 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist in the classical period. Da Capo Alba currently plays two pieces from his famous Peer Gynt Suite. "Morning Mood" is evocative of the rising of the sun. Contrary to popular belief, it was not meant to depict a sunrise over the Norwegian fjords, but over the Sahara Desert.
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  • Music of the 20th Century:

    • Seven Studies for Plucked String Orchestra - Fred Witt
      • Study 1
      • Study 2
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  • Italian:

    • Music for Play - Claudio Mandonico (Contemporary style)
      • Entrata
      • Canzone
      • Ritmico
      Mandonico (1957 - ) composed this suite for mandolin and guitar in a pop style. He uses many ostinato riffs to create this effect.
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  • Folk Music from around the World:

    • Set of Irish Tunes: The Roscommon Suite - Turlough O'Carolan
      • Frank Palmer
      • Morgan Magan
      • O'Carolans Dream
      • Bridget Cruise
      • The O'Rourke's Feast
    • Cordillera - Traditional (arr. Inge Kalberer)
      • El Humahuaqueno - Carnevalito
        "Humahuaqueno" is the name for an inhabitant of Humahuaca, Argentina. El Humahuaqueno is a very colorful song written in the form of an Argentine folk dance.
      • Pascua Linda - Huayno
        This piece makes use of changing time signatures as a dance from Peru.
      • Takirari
        A traditional Bolivian song.
      This suite of South American dances forms a lively set.
    • Set of Irish Tunes: The Roscommon Suite - Turlough O'Carolan
      • Frank Palmer
      • Morgan Magan
      • O'Carolans Dream
      • Sir Festus Burke
      • Bridget Cruise
      • The O'Rourke's Feast
    • Suite nach japanischen Kinderliedern - Oske Ito
      This piece is based on Japanese children's songs. Varied sound colours and dynamics give the listener a unique musical experience.
    • Planxty O'Carolan - Bruno Szordikowski
      This is an arrangement of six Irish tunes that will be sure to set your toes tapping! The arranger, Bruno Szordikowski is a classical guitar composer and guitar teacher at the Mãlheim school of music in Germany.
      Turlough O'Carolan (Toirdhealbhach ó' Cearbhalláin) was born in 1670 in County Meath and became one of the last Irish harpers who composed, and a significant number of his works survive in single line melody.

      O'Carolan's fame was not due to his skill with the harp (having started at 18), but to his gift for composition and verse. Around the age of 18 O'Carolan was blinded by smallpox. Even before his illness, O'Carolan had shown talent for poetry. He studied for three years, at the end of which his father's employer gave him a harp, a horse and some money to begin his career as an itinerant harper.

      For forty-five years O'Carolan would travel throughout Ireland composing tunes (planxties) for his patrons, usually composing on his journeys. He travelled widely throughout Ireland.
    • Set of Scottish Tunes
      We arranged this piece to play at the 2006 Eurofestival Zupfmusik in Bamberg. It consists of both "old" and "new" traditional tunes. The orchestra is supported by a whistle and a concertina.
      The following tunes are part of the set:
      • Lord Lovat's Lament
      • Duke of Perth
      • The Kings
      • Tha mi Sgith
      • Cutting Bracken
      • Drummond Castle
      • Farewell to Whiskey (Neil Gow)
      • The Hut on Staffin Island (Phil Cunningham)
      • Spootiskerry (Ian Burns)
      • Willafjord
      • The High Road to Linton
    • Lambada
      Lambada is a dance whose steps and moves are a fusion of salsa, merengue, tango and zouk. Lambada dancing came to Europe from Brazil, made famous by the group Kaoma with their 1989 hit Lambada. The word "lambada" is an obscure Brazilian Portuguese word, and refers to the wave like motion induced in a whip. This flowing wave motion is reproduced by the dancers' bodies and is one of the things that distinguishes lambada from other dances.
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  • Contemporary:

    • Die Ballade von Uri - Manos Hadjidakis
    • Waltz of the Lost Dreams - Manos Hadjidakis
      Hadjidakis (1925 - 1994), a Greek composer, wrote these two pieces for mandolin orchestra. The pieces made good use of the mandolin's tremolo technique. These pieces were brought to us by visiting German conductor, Frank Scheurle.
    • Heavy Metal Peppi - Otto Jezek
      After studying guitar and music, Otto Jezek (1967 - ) had his first work published in 1995, and recorded a CD "Danza Latina" the following year. In the subsequent years he won several composition prizes. The Heavy Metal Peppi uses musical ideas and idioms typically found in heavy metal music.
    • Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
    • When September Ends - Greenday
    • I Ain't Got Nobody - Thomas "Fats" Waller/Andy Razaf (arr. Calum Harbison)
    • My Fate is In Your Hands - Roger Graham/Spencer Williams (arr. Calum Harbison)
      These are adaptations from the original piano versions.
      Calum Harbison, one of our mandola players, arranged these two bouncy tunes for the orchestra.
      Thomas "Fats" Waller was born in 1904 in New York City and died in Kansas City, Missouri, 1943. He was a celebrated jazz pianist, organist and composer. His hundreds of recordings encompass ragtime, boogie woogie, dixieland and swing. His appearances on radio and in several motion pictures (notably Stormy Weather, 1943) brought Waller's talents to a wide audience.
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  • Blues Music:

    • Blues in G
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  • South American:

    • Bailecito
    • Cueca
    • Ritmata
    • Bahia Sueno
    • Canarios
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  • Scottish:

    • Set 81
    • St Kildas Wedding
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