The Kansai Mandolin Ensemble SMK from Kobe, Japan is expecting its 50th birthday next year. It was founded in 1960 and has made tours to Italy, Germany and Greece.
The description of the videos does contain the following text in Italian language:
gruppi di concerto di mandolino
Noi siamo gruppi di insieme di mandolino giapponesi
Io salutero il 50 anniversario il prossimo anno
The group has uploaded many videos from the latest two concerts to youtube – unfortunately almost all of the videos are limited to ca. 1:30 minutes, so it is not possible to listen to the complete works.
The first concert was played by an ensemble of 5 mandolins, a mandola, a guitar, a bass and two keyboard instruments.
The progam of the first concert was mostly composed of transcriptions of classical works for mandolin ensemble.
- Slavische Tanze － A. Dvorak
- Melody in F － A. Rubinstein
- Balletmusik aus Orpheus － C. W. Gluck
- Tambourin － J. P. Rameau
- Walzer － J. Brahms
- Barcarolle － P. Tschaikowsky
- Andante Cantabile － P. Tschaikowsky
- Träumerei – Schumann
The videos of the second concert shows an ensemble of 10 players composed of mandolins, mandolas, mandoloncello and guitar. In this concert several pieces by J. S. Bach were played.
Playlist with all videos by the SMK mandolin ensemble:
Additional information
youtube channel of the Kansai Mandolin Ensemble: http://www.youtube.com/user/SMK1445
On the homepage of the Kansai Mandolin Ensemble you can find information about the history of the group, a list of pieces arranged for the ensemble and further information: Homepage (with google translation to German): www.kansai-mandolin.com
and to English: www.kansai-mandolin.com
…
CD recommendation
All The Rage – Mandolin Ensemble Music From 1897-1924 (Amazon partnerlink)