Jakub Mitrík and Biber Consort - Mandora: The Lute of the Monasteries (2025) [Hi-Res]

The mandora is a lute instrument that gradually disappeared with the advent of the guitar and has been completely forgotten since around 1820 - until today. The lutenist Jakub Mitrik has set himself the goal of reviving this instrument and its repertoire with this CD. The development of the mandora was a reaction to the baroque lute, which became increasingly complicated to play and had up to 14 courses of strings. It is tuned in a similar way to the later guitar and has six strings, the lower five of which are double-stringed. The mandora was particularly popular in monasteries, especially among the Benedictines. There, the mandora was valued as a solo and chamber music instrument due to its handiness and versatility. The archives of these monasteries also contain a very varied repertoire specially tailored to the mandora, which Jakub MitrIk and his Biber Consort present here for the first time. This is chamber music in a wide variety of formations, in which the mandora takes on the role of a fully-fledged partner that goes far beyond mere basso continuo accompaniment. With his selection, MitrIk presents a multi-coloured and sensitively performed CD programme that reflects the lightness of the late Baroque and early Classical periods and allows musical life in the monasteries outside the liturgy to shine in an unusual light.