I was searching for videos of Mattinata by Amedeo Amadei today and did also find some videos of Mattinata by Leoncavallo. Those videos included a video by an orchestra named Raoul Meynard His Mandolins and Orchestra which made me curious.
Obviously the LP Strolling Mandolins with 12 tracks was published by Warner Brothers Records in 1961, an EP Strolling Mandolins with only 4 tracks was published in the same year in Germany.
This is a great example of using mandolins and even a complete mandolin orchestra in a professional dance orchestra or bigband in the early 1960s.
This is the back cover of the LP that I have found:
… a quartet of mandolins, the bubbling style of Raoul Meynard, and all the romance of Italy
The subject of this lush album my Maestro Raoul Meynard is the mandolin – heard in solo, in duet and as a full orchestral section. He has taken the mandolin – a musical instrument traditionally associated with Romantic Italy – set in from of his sometimes lush, sometimes jaunty orchestra, and produced a sound that is both totally new and totally fetching.
And no wonder. Although admittedly a symbolic sound of Italy, the mandolin – no less than love itself – carries an International visa. It can be heard, enjoyed, and romanced to in any land.
For this recording, Raoul Meynard employed awhole section of mandolins, implemented them with several deeper-throated, rarely-heard mandolas, and wove them together with the sound of a guitar, a string bass, and a brisk percussion section. With these instruments, Meynard has fashioned a rich and brilliant sound, one evocative of every nuance of “the irresistible sounds of an Italian night.”
In Italy, the mandolin is known as “la voce cantante” – the singing voice. It is always carried close to the heart. Here is instrumental music with a singing voice. And here is music close to the heart. A magnificent serenade to lovers around the world.
Details about the Album at discogs
I have tried to find some information about Raoul Meynard, but I did not find anything useful. This is strange because Raoul Meynard has recorded several LPs except Strolling Mandolins.
You can listen to the tracks of Strolling Mandolin and some other tracks on youtube, I have compiled the following playlist:
Playlist Raoul Meynard His Mandolins and Orchestra
Another orchestra with a similar style in Europe was the Mandolin Club de Paris – see the following post: