Mandolin virtuoso Sierra Hull has taken a page from Chris Thile and Béla Fleck and composed a mandolin concerto in three parts, which she calls The Movements. It is the title and the focus of her new album, set to release on April 10.
The Movements was commissioned by the FreshGrass Foundation, who have thrown down similar challenges to artists far from the classical realm. Sierra’s goal has been to compose a bluegrass concerto for mandolin and ensemble, to wit, her extremely capable touring band, which consists of Avery Merritt on fiddle, Erik Coveney on bass, Mark Raudabaugh on drums, and Shaun Richardson on guitar.
The piece has elements that are composed for her mandolin and the ensemble, and parts that allow them all some room for improvisation.
If you’ve seen Sierra live in recent months you may have caught glimpses of The Movements on stage, the third movement in particular.
She says that many concertgoers have heard parts of the piece.
“Movement 3 has been a staple in our live shows over the last few years, occasionally sneaking in Movement 1 or Movement 2 when we were craving a challenge. Folks have been asking for a while now when we would finally release a recording of them, so we are pumped to finally share it with everyone!
It’s truly a capture of the earliest days of this group of musicians learning to make music together.”
So what does a bluegrass concerto sound like? Here’s Hull and the band playing Movement 3 on CBS Saturday Mornings earlier this year.
Pre-orders and pre-saves for The Movements are enabled now online.
