Montuno – The New CD of the Duo Recuerda – Works for Mandolin + Guitar by Mereu, Wolters, Gershwin, Piazzolla, Klug

Montuno ist the second CD by the Duo ReCuerda with Jeannette and Vicente Mozos del Campo.

The CD contains compositions for mandolin and guitar by Luca Mereu, Burkhard Wolters and Hartmut Klug as well as transcriptions of compositions by George Gershwin and Astor Piazzolla. Most of those pieces have probably been recorded for the first time, which makes this CD very interesting.

Montuno is a very calm and soft CD, the lyrical pieces are very impressing by the tastefull interpretations of the duo. Jeannette Mozos del Campo is a master of the tremolo and knows how to shape the melodies. Both play perfectly together.

Montuno is a great CD that I will listen too again in the future, and I can recommend it to everyone who likes the music of plucked instruments.

Jeannette Mozos del Campo has studied mandolin in Wuppertal with Marga Wilden-Hüsgen and Caterina Lichtenberg. Vicente Mozoz del Campo has studied classical guitar in Wuppertal and has got his master degree at the Conservatorio in Maastricht. Both are active as soloists, teachers and also as publishers of music for mandolin and guitar. A more detailed biography can be found on the website of the Duo ReCuerda.

Composers and Works

Luca Mereu

The CD begins with two pieces by the Italian composer Luca Mereu – Musica a Due with the movements Girovagando and Immagini.

Girovagando (rambling ) is a charming, lyrical movement with a lively, more rhythmical middle part – one of my favorite pieces on this CD.

The second movement Immagini has parts with rhythmical, distinctive guitar playing, but also and sweet, and dreamy melodies by the mandolin.

Luca Mereu writes about his compositions:

The bond between mandolin and guitar is deeply rooted in the history of both instruments, both in classical and traditional music, and is here represented in DANZA and MUSICA A DUE. In Danza there is a strictly interwoven dialogue between the mandolin and the guitar alternating rapid light movements to sudden bursts, like a real dance. In Musica a Due the mandolin’s bright phrases penetrate like light beams into the harmonic space of the guitar, awaking a quiet impressionism-like memory of a dream.

Burkhard Wolters

Burkhard Wolters has composed the Suite für Mandoline und Gitarre Op. 40 for the Duo ReCuerda. Five very different movements, including Prelude, Allemande and Gigue like in a baroque suite.

The first movement, the the lively Prelude Montuno is inspired by elements from Latin-American music. Jazz elements can be heard in the Jazzy-Waltz, soft guitar chords, a smooth tremolo and ringing harmonics are used in the beautiful Lamento. The final Gigue has again more rhythmically elements played by the guitar, but also sweet melodies in the mandolin.

Astor Piazzolla

Three compositions by Astor Piazzolla – Dernier Lamento, Détresse und Tango Choc – have been arrangend for violin and guitar by Ian Murphy. Those melodies – initially composed for the bandoneon – are also great on mandolin. Jeannette Mozos del Campo knows how to form those melodies and plays them with great musical sense.

George Gershwin

The world of Gershwins Rhapsodie in Blue can be found in a smaller scale in the Three Preludes. The guitarist T. Müller Pering has arranged those pieces for mandolin and guitar

My favorite movement is the second prelude, a kind of slow blues. The introduction by the guitar creates a very special mood, the melody is enriched with many great tone colors and special picking techniques. The 1st and 3rd prelude are more dominated by rhythmical and percussive elements and allow to be played with more power and energy.

The Duo ReCuerdo has made two videos with the 2nd and 3rd prelude by Gershwin:

G. Gershwin – Prelude 2

G. Gershwin – Prelude 3

Hartmut Klug

Hartmut Klug has a strong relation with the music for mandolin orchestras in Germany. He has conducted several important mandolin orchestras including the mandolin orchestra from Rheinland-Palatinate (Zupforchester Rheinland-Pfalz). In this orchestra Jeannette Mozos del Campo has the position of the concertmaster. His composition An der schönen schwarzen Wupper II has been inspired by a composition by Heinrich Friedrich Wienck, a composer who was born in Wuppertal. Wienck had composed his piece about the heavily polluted river Wupper. An der schönen schwarzen Wupper II by Hartmut Klug is a humorous composition in which you can hear the Blue Danube every now and then.