A Tribute to Henry Mancini - concert performance and some proud parents in the audience!

While Sunday early afternoon is usually designed for having a nap and respecting the quiet hours in the buildings (nobody wants angry neighbours 😁) I do hear the sound of the violin coming from my son's room. It is not too disturbing as he sometimes plays with a metal practice mute.

It is a little device that is attached to the bridge of the violin to dampen the sound. He bought it recently as the hours spent in school and in the conservatory don't give many options when to practice. Evenings or weekends. And believe me, the sound of the violin can be much more annoying than the piano sound.

Our neighbours sometimes mention how they like music (maybe it is just a way to say that we are too loud with your musical instruments 😅). Because of that, I wanted to invite our first neighbour to come to the concert my son had with the German orchestra (complete story brought in this post). Unfortunately, she was abroad those days but maybe she would come on some next occasion. Until then the violin compositions are heard through the wall.

This Sunday's early afternoon practice reminded me of the video I made at that concert in October and I promised to bring it to Hive. It was too big so I had to convert it to a bit smaller one; it finally happened today. In the end the original recording comes as the magic of making it a bit smaller didn't bring good results.

The composition I have recorded is the last one from this program. A medley of soundtracks by the great master, Henry Mancini in arrangement of Calvin Custer. My son loved this one and talked about the rehearsals with excitement, but he didn't want to give spoilers. He didn't say they made a little choreography too while playing. Some body movements following the music and snapping fingers in some parts of the composition made it more interesting for them. For the audience too, when we saw it at the concert!

It was the only composition that was not strictly from the genre of classical music. The medley contains parts from songs and soundtracks such as Baby Elephant Walk, Charade, The Pink Panther, Days of Wine and Roses, and finally, Peter Gunn. This video was taken in the first concert they had, in Teulada. The next day they played it even better (there was a slight insecurity in the sound quality of the rhythm section in one short part of this performance) but that is the charm and risk of playing live. The next day they were already more relaxed and not that concerned about the health condition of one of the members of the orchestra. I mentioned in my post that she was taken to the hospital.

Still, this is a very enjoyable 7 and a half minutes of music (just preparing you for the length of the composition). I listened to it probably a hundred times and will do it once again, right now. Yes, I am a proud mom. 😉

Did you recognize the soundtracks from this piece - in case you didn't read the part where I named them? Which one is your favourite soundtrack from this medley?