NDR das neue werk: Avi Avital & Friends

When speaking of the mandolin, the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi and his famous Concerto in C major comes to mind. Or Mozart’s »Don Giovanni« with its seductive serenade performed by the fictional seducer Don Juan under the balcony of a beautiful woman. The sounds are enchanting, there is no doubt about it – yet, for many years, the mandolin was a highly endangered species on the concert podium. There were never many compositions for the instrument, even at the height of its popularity in the Baroque era. The Romantics simply felt that the mandolin was too quiet. Curiously enough it was Gustav Mahler who heralded its renaissance with his monumental Seventh Symphony. However, in the past few years the mandolin has nearly reached cult status thanks to Avi Avital.