Interview

Jane Hampden of "At 10" on WUWM.

In May 2006, WUWM aired an interview that featured the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra. The interview was wonderfully staged, directed and edited by Jane Hampden, the show's producer. The scope of the interview is far-reaching and it offers some good insights into American mandolin orchestra history and the Milwaukee Mandolin orchestra.

Congratulations Jane! In a statewide competition for Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism, the Milwaukee Press Club presented WUWM's Jane Hampden with a 1st Place Award for the Best Use of Audio within a Report in 2006 for her At 10 feature entitled "Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra."

Interview (128Kbps MP3, 8:47, 8.1 MB)

Bonnie North of "Lake Effect" on WUWM.

In November 2007, Bonnie North interviewed Director Linda Binder and former Director Paul Ruppa in a prelude to our concert that featured the premier of "Concerto #1 for Mandolin and Mando-cello" by Mike Marshall. The interview includes a sample of the Lustspiel Overture as played by Evan Marshll and the MMO on "Unplugged Since 1900." The directoral change is a main topic with some observations by Linda and Paul about Mike's concerto and the history of the mandolin orchestra movement in America.

Interview (64Kbps MP3, 10:01, 4.8 MB)

REVIEWS

This link takes you to reviews of both MMO CDs by Jim Diffey,
a ragtime radio DJ whose show "A Corner of Time" is featured on station KVMR in Nevada City, CA.

The following review has been reprinted with permission from
"Dirty Linen"
The magazine of Folk and World Music

MANDOLINS IN THE MOONLIGHT
Self-produced/The Bonne Amie Musical Circle (1998)
By Ivan Emke (Feb/Mar 1999, p 53)

For just about a century now, the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra (MMO) has been entertaining people with the unique sound of the mandolin orchestra. MMO is the oldest mandolin orchestra in America, and they proudly boast that they've been "unplugged for 95 years." In fact, two members of this current lineup have actually been with the orchestra for over 60 years each.

Mandolins in the Moonlight features material that was popular over a half century ago, performed using the original orchestra arrangements. The music has an "antique" flare to it hearkening to earlier times. One can clearly see ragtime influences on tracks like "Sweet Marjorie," and "Evolution Rag." There are stirring marches with classic melody lines like the "Pythian March," and a fine reading of the well-known "Shine On Harvest Moon." If you play "Los Caballeros," people entering the room may think they have just wandered into a Hitchcock movie.

Despite the name, there are not just mandolins in the Orchestra, but also mandolas, mando-cellos, guitars, and mando-bass. These are joined by some long note instruments (violin, flute) on a few tracks, and three pieces include vocals (especially notable is the close harmony of "A Day in the Cottonfields"). About half of the tunes are played by ensembles, sub-groups of the Orchestra. This is music with a quaint charm, lovingly played.

Reprinted with permission from the publisher of
"The Mandolin Quarterly"

MANDOLINS IN THE MOONLIGHT
Mandolin Quarterly - March 1999
By Jack El-Hai

We must live in charmed times. Last year, the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble released All the Rage, its splendid CD of music from the American mandolin orchestra era in the beginning decades of this century. Now the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra has followed with another wonderful album that offers completely different repertoire, and mood, from the same era.

Mandolins in the Moonlight may well be the highlight of the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra's existence - and when you consider that the orchestra has been around for 99 years, longer than any other American mandolin ensemble, that's saying something. This CD features great tunes, fabulous recording quality, entertaining liner notes, and handsome graphic design. But what's most memorable about Mandolins in the Moonlight is the emotional depth that the Milwaukeeans coax from their instruments and the music, as well as their ability to evoke the sensibilities of an extinct time whose sounds can still echo in our ears.

Appropriately, the orchestra and music director Paul Ruppa have decided to focus this CD on the output of Milwaukee-based composers. For mandolin orchestra players in other parts of the world, most of this music is probably unknown and will surely fascinate. During the years of the American mandolin orchestra era, from the turn of the century through the 1930's, Milwaukee was a great place for mandolin players. One composer in particular, William C. Stahl, ranked as one of America's finest for mandolin ensembles, and several others added to the richness of the mandolin orchestra experience in the city.

Mandolins in the Moonlight includes four works by Stahl, as well as others by Milwaukeeans Howard Weeks and Nora Norworth Bayes. Two Weeks numbers open the Album: Los Caballeros (1945), which shows the orchestra playing in a bright and aggressive mode, and the CD’s title track (1943), which has an unusual, timeless quality, like much of Rudy Cipolla's music. In the latter piece, like many of the selections on the album, the orchestra divides into a smaller ensemble and adds the welcome sonorities of the flute. In other tracks, the group performs with violinists, and the final cut is a fingerstyle guitar duet. In its willingness to break into smaller groups and stray from the usual mandolin orchestra instrumentation, the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra shows its devotion to the musical needs of the compositions, not artificially imposed limits on how to perform.

There are singers on this CD, as well. In the past, I have listened with trepidation to the combination of mandolin ensemble and singers. Some of my fear has been due to the deficiencies of many singers, ans some th the clumsiness with which many mandolin groups accompany vocalists. But in the hands of this ensemble, there is no cause for alarm. On the contrary, the vocals --- William Lavonis' work in Frederic Clay's I'll Sing thee Songs of Araby, a vocal quartet's performance of My Old Kentucky Home and Tom Schwark's smooth singing in Shine On Harvest Moon - are some of the best things in the CD.

The Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra has given us a rare thing: heartfelt and stirring performances of music that, without the efforts of these performers, could easily vanish into the mists of time. At the same time, they have produced a CD that should seal their reputation for yet another century.