Avi Avital is a man on a mission with a mandolin. He's performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, with stops along the way including the Berlin Philharmonie. This young man from Israel is redefining the boundaries of the instrument to include Bach, Mozart and more.
From his debut all-Bach CD on Deutsche Grammophon, I'll have his performance of the Harpsichord Concerto in D-Minor arranged for mandolin and orchestra.
About playing Bach on the mandolin, Avital says, "Bach's music is full of secrets. No matter how long you've been playing it, there is still something to discover every time. Using a different instrument allows you to hear its timelessness in a new way."
Indeed, Bach's great D-Minor concerto will sound new and different with Avi Avital and the Potsdam Chamber Academy.
Also on the next Fretworks, I'll have guitarist Andrew York's recording of his own popular composition, Sunburst. Jason Vieaux has Capricho Arabe by Fransisco Tarrega from his Grammy Award-winning CD "Play," and Jeffrey McFadden performs music of Agustin Barrios.
For a second work with orchestra on this week's program, I'll have the Concerto for Two Guitars from 1962 by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. This was the third and final guitar concerto from a composer who insisted on writing accessible and likable music. We'll hear Japanese guitarists Kazuhito and Naoko Yamashita with the London Philharmonic and Leonard Slatkin.
Join me for Fretworks Saturday and Wednesday evenings at 7 on Classical 101.
A reminder for those of you wanting to hear fine guitar playing live, the Columbus Guitar Society is presenting its first concert of the season with Ekachai Jearakul. He's the first classical guitarist from Thailand to gain international recognition for his outstanding playing, winning numerous awards, including from the Guitar Foundation of America. The concert takes place Saturday evening (Oct. 3) at 8 pm at the Huntington Recital Hall at Capital University in Bexley.