On Saturday the lovely Nina and I found ourselves in Woods Hole, at the far end of the Cape from where we live, where we had been invited to attend a living-room performance by two extraordinary musicians: violinist Darol Anger and mandolinist/guitarist Mike Marshall. (Their websites are here and here, respectively.)
It was music the old-fashioned way: a live performance in an intimate setting. And not just any performance: Anger and Marshall are a duo of virtuosi who have been playing together for so long that they seem to resonate on a single wavelength. It really was, simply put, as good as it gets — and trust me, readers, I’ve been around.
For this lifelong “soundbender”, it was not just a musical treat, but a sonic one as well: in particular, the sound of Mr. Marshall’s 1924 Gibson mandolin and his exquisite John Monteleone mandocello were stunningly beautiful. (He has used this mandocello to record Bach’s cello suites; do yourself a favor and have a listen, here.)
In December 2021, this duo performed a concert in Germany, with my friend, the great tenor player Bob Mintzer (of the YellowJackets) leading the WDR Orchestra in a set of arrangements he’d made for Anger and Marshall’s music. Here’s an excerpt:
And here’s the duo on their own, playing one of the tunes we heard on Saturday.
2 Comments
Most excellent. You are a lucky fellow. Or as kids say privileged. Whatever. Mighty fine.
Yes, this really was just lucky; we went out to dinner a while back and met someone at the bar who told us about the person in Woods Hole who hosts these shows at his house.
You never know what life has in store!