Album Notes

The Israeli Mandolin Quartet


Shmuel Elbaz - Mandolin I
Yaakov Reuven - Mandolin II
Avi Avital- Mandola
Lev Khaimovich - Mandocello


The Israeli Mandolin Quartet was established in September 1999, when the maestro Mstislav Rostropovich was invited to conduct Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and sought four mandolin players to feature the work.
The members of the Kerman Quartet use their mandolins in a unique and artistic fashion representing a most unique school of musical expression. This school started in 1971 when a violin and mandolin professor by the name of Mr. Simcha Nathansohn, arrived in Israel from Russia and began to teach at the Beer-Sheba Conservatory. As a violinist, Mr. Nathansohn familiarized his students with the mainstream violin repertoire and with the methods of the virtuoso violinists of the nineteenth century. He also introduced his students to original techniques for the mandolin, which had involved during the process of performing violin repertoire on its plucked mandolin cousin (made possible, because of the same tuning in both instruments).
The Israeli Mandolin Quartet has established a local precedent in its presentation of four mandolin-family instruments in a format analogous to the traditional string quartet. Indeed the Mandola and Mandocello, were built especially for the purpose of performing string quartet repertoire by the Israeli Artist, Arik Kerman. Nowadays they are also used to play adaptations and original music written for mandolin quartet.
The Israeli Mandolin Quartet is performing across the country in concerts and Festivals and won the first prize in the International Festival of Plectrum Music of La Rioja in Spain in 2003
This CD has been widely broadcast and acclaimed in Israel, Europe and the USA.