Dee746

What about a 46 Lachenal Maccann Duet #1317, note - it has no air valve. 6 fold bellows, Rosewood ends? Any thoughts on production date?

Very nice!

Al & Wes, as well as everyone who contributed, past and present - Thank you so much! Dee746 AKA Diane

Boney - I agree with everything ritonmousquetaire said! These are fantastic recordings. In addition to the wonderful arrangements you put together, your selections give us nice examples that showcase the versatility of the Duet concertina, and how much can be done with only 46 keys. Thanks for sharing these.

You probably already know about this, but I also found a a copy of the Decca 78 recording from 1936 by Raphael of "Doena" at archives.org. https://archive.org/details/78_doena_raphael-worlds-greatest-artist-of-the-concertina-leo-lefleur_gbia0050199b

I just stumbled across these recordings while searching for something else, then checked concertina.net to see if there was more info as to the identity of the poster. The set of recordings and videography is beautiful, no matter when they were recorded. The thing that made me wonder about the supposed time the recordings were made vs when posted were the dates. Recordings made by a musicologist in 1935 with current day memories from "past" field notes...? Assuming the poster was in his 20's in 1935, this would make him 100+ years old now? Regardless, they are beautiful 1st person stories, lovely music, and I'm guessing if I bought the book that is referenced in his Youtube postings, there would be some overlap...So thanks to whoever posted these.

I agree!

My "new" 46 Key Lachenal Maccann Duet arrived in the mail yesterday. It's got Rosewood ends and metal buttons. It has a beautiful tone, perfectly tuned and plays well with one exception. Like the Duet you mention above, the chords on the left side are too loud for the single melody lines played on the right. So...I was curious to know how your duet-baffles experiment worked out, and did it cure your problem of the bass side overpowering the treble melody side without creating new problems? I've noticed most on this forum talk about concertinas with metal framework, and mine does not have metal ends. So I'd love to know if the accordion baffles did the trick, and if they'd work for a Duet that does have a metal framework. Thanks.

Thanks again for all the work you're doing to bring this together!

Al - This sounds wonderful. And I vote yes, for on going if it's possible to do so. Thanks for keeping us posted re plans for the Duet Recording Page!

Steve - This is a beautiful song. Thanks for sharing!

Hi George - I'm also brand new to the duet. Thanks for posting this. Nice to have these recordings by Lesley Henniker to go along with David Cornell's arrangements. Older players may know about this next one, but since it was posted in 2016, I'll repeat it here. Jon Boden did a series of free recordings on spotify called "folk song a day". Not all of them were concertina recordings. But concertina.net member Gaspar put together a list of his concertina recordings at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UyXEomoAvtL0ZTZ46SWn3 . Boden plays the duet concertina and often uses it to accompany his singing. As for what type, in a 2016 post, Dave Elliott said the following : "In 2009 I did work on two Duets for Jon, both were Lachenal, a 46k Rosewood ended, and a 64k Metal ended."

Mr. Lakeman - I'm new to the duet concertina. Having seen your message above, I immediately bought your CD, which arrived this AM. It's wonderful. Thanks so much!

I just stumbled upon this post. Djack, this is fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing it.

Thanks all for the info.

This is wonderful. As a brand new Duet player (as in can't play yet, but working on it), thank-you everyone for donating your time and talent. And Al, thanks especially to you for making this happen!

Did the serial numbers for Lachenal Maccann Duet concertina go up sequentially? Anotherwords, if 2133 was made circa 1901, would a Lachenal Maccann duet with a 4 digit number of 1317 have been produced in an earlier year? Also, does anyone know if the numbering sequences were different for Lachenal Maccaan Duet with different numbers of keys - i.e. start at different base numbers according to number of keys on the duet concertina (e.g. 46 keys vs 55, 67 or 81 keys) I've just purchased a refurbished 46 key Lachenal Maccann duet serial number 1317 (still winging it's way to me by mail from the UK to the US) . It has rosewood ends, metal buttons, steel reeds and 6 fold bellows. The seller, places it as circa 1900. Just wondered if anyone has a sense of the method by which Lachenal Maccan Duets were assigned their serial numbers. Thanks all.

Great article David! Very relevant to the discussion. Also right on target re the pluses and minuses of various media and the different comments/preferences we've all expressed. Each has it's use, each has it's place. Thanks for posting.

OK, some DJs have made vinyl popular by doing the scratching thing (Arrgghh). But you're right, true audiophiles are going back to vinyl because CDs can't quite compete in sound quality with the CDs. My major use of mp3/mp4 is for listening to books. But Alan Day's downloadable mp3s are really helping me learn to play Anglo. And for that purpose, they are wonderful. And he can afford to distribute them for free because there are no costs for making CDs or distributing them. My husband has a huge jazz vinyl collection that he rarely plays, although w have a turn-table on every floor. First of all they take up room, so they're on the third floor...And the CDs are less likely to get damaged and take up much less room. But I also like having liner notes, although because of some vision issues I have to use a magnifier to read them. Sigh...As for music theory, I'm not fully educated in that field either, and also do a lot self learning from books and the internet. I try to spend some concentrated time every 6 months or so reviewing what I've learned and adding something to new. My latest thing is harmonic minor mode and klezmer scales/tunes. Not there yet by a long shot!

I am so glad my mother insisted we all take those 2 years of piano lessons...She didn't mean it. She wanted more. In my case, 6 years...But that meant I could sight read vocal parts. I taught myself guitar (back when you exchanged what you learned with friends, and lifted arrangements off albums because there was no internet. By the time I learned the ukulele, there were all those lovely internet teaching videos. Must say, it was appreciated, albeit less personal. I did not go into music as a profession. But that early piano and vocal training that led to guitar meant that I could pay my college tuition bills by singing weddings, working as the children's entertainer for the town recreation department during the summers, and teaching guitar lessons. It sure beat flipping hamburgers at MacDonald's, and usually paid better too. Close... RE your comments about CDs - It's interesting. My CDs are still my favorite listening medium, but youtube and internet streaming are now a regular part of my listening experience. However, my 20 and 30 something nephews and nieces, all of whom play musical instruments, one of whom was a theater major and now is a full time actor in the actor's union, all get a glazed look on their face and change the subject when I ask if they'd like a CD for a Christmas gift (I've learned to buy itunes credit cards instead). They use their smartphones to listen to music. They listen to pandora on their laptops. They download mp3 recordings off the internet or purchase them on Amazon or itunes and make permanent playlists the length of the average CD, sometimes stored on their phones, or a flash drive or microdisk they can plug into their mp3 player or boom box or smart phone with speakers for parties. Technology moves on! We used to listen to the radio, then albums, then CDs...OK, I admit it I still own some beta videos and a player...

They still work. They're great, and they are exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. My budget only allowed for a 46 button Lachenal maccann, and I do know the smaller number of buttons comes with some limitations. But I have a decent music theory background, so it will hopefully help me with arranging around the lack of extra buttons once I master the button layout. If not, when I gain some proficiency on the one I just bought, I will trade up. OK, I'm 65, so realistically, that may never happen...But a gal can dream Thanks for taking the time to find and post these!

Nice job Tim. Really enjoyed it.

Irene, it's a great find. You're on a roll!

Irene - All great points. And updating the list with new duet players who have joined the ranks since the initial work on the Duet International CD began is a wonderful idea. Re an Online page of recordings or links to recordings vs a CD - If a Duet CD could be created, obviously, that would be wonderful. And clearly no recordings should ever be placed on line, or copied from cassettes or other media to be posted online or put into a CD without the legal written permission of the performer. Songs recent enough to still be under copyright regardless of the performer are also an issue. But all this applies to any CD that would be produced, not just online distribution or posting. Given his experience in creating the wonderful Anglo and English International CD collections, my guess is that Alan is familiar with these issues. My thoughts concerning why the need for a Duet page but not an Anglo or EC page are - There are two wonderful CD collections people can buy - Anglo International and English International to listen to wonderful examples showcasing the diversity of these two types of concertinas and the skills of those who play them. So from my perspective, the need for a page for Anglo and English concertinas is not as acute as the need for a Duet Recordings Page. There is no Duet International CD, and based on the information Alan has provided us, the Duet International CD will not be happening. Also, there are many wonderful individually recorded CDs by Anglo and EC players. There are not so many single artist duet player CDs on the market. So if it is not possible to make a Duet CD, a Duet Recordings Page as described by Alan would help to fill this void, and would certainly be better than nothing at all. My two cents (or ~2.6 pence? - haven't checked today's exchange rate), for what it's worth...