At the beginning of the afternoon, Saturday July 9, at the Pierre-Barbizet conservatory in Marseille, the composer, arranger and instrumentalist Jean-Claude Vannier, 79, remembers: “When I was a child, my parents took me to Parc Montsouris, where the Mandolin’Club de Paris played regularly. I immediately loved it. The sound, and above all the emotion that I felt and which is still there. » Although he used the mandolin from time to time for recordings and arrangements – his career began at the end of the 1960s – this is the first time that Jean-Claude Vannier has written specifically for the instrument.
And this thanks to another mandolin enthusiast from childhood, Vincent Beer-Demander, creator and artistic director of the Mandol’In Marseille Festival, whose 2e edition takes place until Wednesday 13 July. Mandolinist, therefore, composer, teacher at the Pierre-Barbizet conservatory – of its official name Conservatoire national à radiation régional de Marseille – where he reopened in 2009 the mandolin class, closed in 1941. Also a guide to the history of the instrument – its evolutions in lutherie from the basic model in the shape of a pear with four double strings played with a plectrum, the equivalent of a pick for guitarists.
Vincent Beer-Demander explains:
“You have to go beyond the imagery of the serenade played to seduce a beauty. And already do not think that there is only the Neapolitan tradition. Each Italian region, land of origin of the mandolin, has a repertoire. For a long time too, before it became a popular instrument, with mandolin orchestras everywhere, and especially in all the districts of Marseille, it was an instrument for the nobility. Young girls played it, Marie-Antoinette had one. There are also pieces for mandolin in classical music. Italian immigrants brought it to the United States, where it came to nurture folk, country. »
Tremolo Technique
The attention to bringing to life a repertoire for the instrument, with his classes, with the orchestra of mandolins and guitars, within his company accompanied by the Quintet à plectre de France, also involves numerous compositions and commissions made to others. He mentions among others Lalo Schifrin, Claude Bolling, the Brazilian virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda, Vladimir Cosma, the American Mike Marshall… Collaborations with the rapper Dooz Kawa, a project with Akhenaton, from the IAM group. And so, Jean-Claude Vannier, for a double program, in creation this evening, entitled “Brassens alla Vannier”.
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