The Luna Nova Quartet was founded on a simple concept — perpetuating a legacy. The sound of the group is unusual and intriguing. The audience response when stumbling on the group is often puzzlement over the components of the quartet and the origin of the peculiar sound. According to the group’s founder, Ben Brussell, Luna Nova can most simply be described as a featured mandolin with a string trio, dedicated to subtlety and layers.
“I was committed to continue my grandfather’s mission and show the total flexibility of the instrument in the classical world,” Brussell explained, when asked why he founded a group around the mandolin. “My grandfather, Maxwell Gralnick, was an immigrant from Russia. He was an immigrant to Hollywood in the 1920s. His area of expertise was violin, viola, and mandolin. Through the decades he became the [guy to] call for mandolin. When you listen to the movie The Godfather, both [Parts]I and II, that’s him playing the mandolin! He actually played at the L.A. Philharmonic as a mandolinist, as a featured soloist. He played in thousands of films and commercial work. He played mandolin with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in That’s Amore. When I was a teenager, I was studying violin and trumpet in high school. He passed away when I was 17, and I inherited all of his instruments, including the mandolin which I use to this day professionally.”
The legacy of his grandfather supported Brussell beyond the inspiration and inheritance. “He was a part of every significant premiere of classical music that had mandolin in it, including the two Mahler symphonies, all of the Vivaldi concerti, and the Beethoven pieces. ... A lot of the older composers and musicians remembered my grandfather and, in turn, started mentoring me and giving me work as a mandolin player,” he said. Brussell took this mentorship and used it to pursue his path toward Luna Nova. “I condensed what he did. Instead of an orchestra, I took the quartet and featured the mandolin with a string trio. I wanted the full range of the emotions and dynamics of the strings, but also to feature the mandolin in its best light, in a classical way.” Brussell is a composer, in addition to his skills as a mandolinist. He has adapted and arranged nearly the group’s entire repertoire. “I always choose to not just do mandolin repertoire. I hear it on a much larger scale. The repertoire we’ve worked up through the years, and the way we play it and present it, has worked really nicely.”
“I wanted to feature the mandolin in its best light, in a classical way.” – Ben Brussell
Brussell is eager to share his arrangements with listeners at a salon concert series. “By the nature of the mandolin, it literally draws people in. When you’re playing, they’re leaning forward in their seats, they’re watching it.” Luna Nova will attempt to pull people in once again this month at the Hotel Adagio in pursuit of its own legacy.