While freely admitting that the performance ought to have been better (methinks I hear a wag emend that to ought to have been good) I did play my Variations on a Basque Carol on Christmas Eve. My arguably sub-par execution notwithstanding, I think it a good piece, and insofar as I did any creative work over this restful holiday period, it was the ancillary task of adapting this brief work for (by turns) flute, violin, cello, viola, and mandolin. In all cases, of course, I had capable colleagues in mind to send the adaptation, fresh off the e-press.
Response has been swift and gratifying:
[violin]
Looks really good and a whole lot of fun!
[flute]
The Basque Carol Variations sound terrific and are perfectly flutist-friendly. Audience-friendly too! Congrats on another solid contribution to the repertoire.
[mandolin]
Lovely piece! Thanks for sending it (and writing it — we need more mandolin rep. ESPECIALLY by non-mandolinists).
No issues. It is all eminently playable and not overly difficult.
One clarification: Written slurs like meas. 5, 13 etc. — can I assume these are L.H. slurs ("pull-offs" and "hammer-ons" in guitar parlance)? If so, you may want to make that explicit (in English, or prose at any rate) — that is not typical classical mandolin technique, though they are quite effective nonetheless.
The notation is quite clear and more detailed than a mandolinist would do — hence the need for non-mandolinist composers to write for the instrument. To model best practices as well as provide us with new music.
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