You Think You Have Heard It All....Guess Again!

[stenka razin]

His name is Richard Galliano and the label is none other than DG and the composer is Bach, no less! Has anyone ever heard this brand new CD? Much less, have you heard anything else that is classical on the Accordion on another CD or LP? This baffles me.....Any experts on this much maligned instrument? Would you purchase this? Have any of our fellow CMGers' ever played the Accordion?

[Jared]

I can't even hear an accordion these days without thinking of the dancing scene in Bela Tarr's 'Satantango'.. I think I'll give it a miss..

[diegobueno]

This past spring the PG Philharmonic did Piazzolla's Concerto for Bandoneón. The soloist played it on a regular accordeon and was quite an accomplished player.

[John F]

I have an LP of Beethoven's Egmont Overture played by a Finnish accordeon trio.

[some guy]

Not only have we heard it all, we've done this thread already.

We even corrected "accordeon" to "accordion" in that thread, as I recall.

No, I didn't go find the thread. Should be easy, though, if anyone's curious. I've added several accordion pieces to my collection since then, too. Anyway, there are several "classical" accordionists, and they play original music, too, not transcriptions (though one of them does those too, I think). And many pieces for accordion, alone and in various combinations, all the way up to a full symphony orchestra.

And if you include bandoneon (ah, that's where the "e" goes!), and we had a debate in that earlier thread about whether or not to do just that, things open up even more.

[Guitarist]

In that case, I don't want "to hear it all"!

[diegobueno]

Not only have we heard it all, we've done this thread already.

We even corrected "accordeon" to "accordion" in that thread, as I recall.

No, I didn't go find the thread. Should be easy, though, if anyone's curious. I've added several accordion pieces to my collection since then, too. Anyway, there are several "classical" accordionists, and they play original music, too, not transcriptions (though one of them does those too, I think). And many pieces for accordion, alone and in various combinations, all the way up to a full symphony orchestra.

And if you include bandoneon (ah, that's where the "e" goes!), and we had a debate in that earlier thread about whether or not to do just that, things open up even more.

Hark hark, the snark.

It's also "-eon" in many European languages. I got totally confused on the spelling a few years ago when I was cataloging a bunch of scores involving accordion put out by Edition Hansen, scores by a number of Scandinavian composers you would be interested (but I'm not going to tell you about them now). I was correcting the misspellings of the word put in by numerous inputters and then trying to remember the "-ion" spelling for use in the subject heading. That's my excuse, anyway.

[slofstra]

I want that CD.

A couple of years ago we attended a night at the annual Kimberley International Old-time Accordion Championship with a cousin and an aunt and uncle. Forget who was the headliner but he wove quite a bit of serious music into his lineup. Most of the crowd wanted to sing-along with the Beer Barrel Polka, but both my cousin and myself were impressed by his more serious attempts. (I should add my cousin and I and my wife were the only ones there under 75. They do call it "old time".) The headline performer has about 100 different CDs out, all self-produced.

[some guy]

About this thread generally, snarky as charged.

About the spelling, however, I was poking fun at our earlier attempts to be correct, and at my own involvement in that. (I think personally and professionally that regularized orthography is nothing like what it's been cracked up to be.) Sorry that that self-deprecation didn't come across. (I reread my post, and I could just barely detect it myself, I have to admit.)

(Loved the rhyme, just by the way!)

Anyway, contemporary composers have certainly used accordions in many interesting ways, none of which would ever remind you of Myron Floren. (If you like Myron, that will, of course, tick you off. If you don't, that's doubtless cause for celebration. Maybe with a nice finger of brandy.)

[StephenSutton]

In general usage, (on record labels) accordeon seemed to eveolve into accordion in the early 30s.

While such instrumentation is unusual now, in the early days of recording there were a good many discs with transcriptions of popular pieces for accordeon and several other odd instruments (including the ocarina, many types of bells, xylophone etc). Players included Guido Deiro (whose brother was a musician too); if I recall correctly without my list to hand, he played the William Tell Overture (much abridged), March from Tannhauser and such delights, around 1905-09

[Fergus]

There are very few instruments that I dislike the sound of but top of that small list is the accordion....that is one disc that I will pass on

[some guy]

While such instrumentation is unusual now....

In the world of transcriptions that may be true. In the world of original music, the accordion has been appearing more and more frequently since the 60s at least, if not earlier. Certainly since then. Solo accordion, accordion with tape, accordion with various other instruments. Composers have done it all.

And just by the way, if we're talking Europe, I prefer the name fisarmonica. (In the Hutchinson encyclopedia, the first patent was taken out in 1822 in Germany on the "Handäoline," as it was called then. And then in Austria, another patent was taken out in 1829 on the "Akkordion.")

[Lance]

This thread brings back some interesting memories. Yes, I studied and played the accordion in my young years. I also studied voice (baritone), piano, and trumpet/cornet. You should have heard my accordion account of "Lady of Spain" in those years. I even played a few polkas! (What?!? - Lance, Polkas?) It was an instrument seemingly made for this kind of repertoire.

A little over a year ago, my soprano sister gave a recital of a wide variety of songs from Purcell to Schubert, Brahms, etc. I asked her to sing Bob Merrill's "Mira" from his show Carnival, a popular song that can also be sung effectively as an opera aria! My sister agreed but ONLY if I would participate with her ON STAGE playing an accordion obbligato. Well, i protested vehemently since i have not played the instrument in decades. I found my old accordion in deep storage. It had gotten mildewed over the years in its case and was somewhat out of tune, but I managed to play it. On stage, every time I would open and close the bellows, a strong mildew scent arose to my nose. When the piece concluded, I had a standing ovation. People know me as the piano technician, not the accordionist. (My performance with my sister IS documented on a CD, too!)

Over the years, I have heard and seen some extraordinary virtuoso accordionists. One was Carmen Carrozza, who was very popular in his day but I've lost track of him.

That brings me to Mel's post of Bach on the accordion. Would I buy it? Absolutely. This would be a most interesting disc to hear. I'm sure even Bach himself would have enjoyed hearing his music on this instrument since he was such a grand transcriber on his own.

[Chalkperson]

There are very few instruments that I dislike the sound of but top of that small list is the accordion....that is one disc that I will pass on

It is actuall ypretty tough going, although ultimately rewarding, I have the Goldberg Variations disc...however, if you a looking for a new take on Bach's Keyboard music then try Andrei Pushkarev's recording of the Two and Three Part Inventions...it's on the Vibraphone and is totally and utterly adorable...

[Fergus]

There are very few instruments that I dislike the sound of but top of that small list is the accordion....that is one disc that I will pass on

It is actuall ypretty tough going, although ultimately rewarding, I have the Goldberg Variations disc...however, if you a looking for a new take on Bach's Keyboard music then try Andrei Pushkarev's recording of the Two and Three Part Inventions...it's on the Vibraphone and is totally and utterly adorable...

I can see why that would work though Chalkie....texture would be lighter and therefore clarity of sound would be bright and clear; it sounds intruiging

[rogch]

None other than Sofia Gubadidulina has actually composed a few works with accordion. Recently deceased Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim also composed works for the accordion. I heard one of them on the radio, spectacular stuff actually.

[Ted Quanrud]

This classic Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson said it best:

[stenka razin]

This thread brings back some interesting memories. Yes, I studied and played the accordion in my young years. I also studied voice (baritone), piano, and trumpet/cornet. You should have heard my accordion account of "Lady of Spain" in those years. I even played a few polkas! (What?!? - Lance, Polkas?) It was an instrument seemingly made for this kind of repertoire.

A little over a year ago, my soprano sister gave a recital of a wide variety of songs from Purcell to Schubert, Brahms, etc. I asked her to sing Bob Merrill's "Mira" from his show Carnival, a popular song that can also be sung effectively as an opera aria! My sister agreed but ONLY if I would participate with her ON STAGE playing an accordion obbligato. Well, i protested vehemently since i have not played the instrument in decades. I found my old accordion in deep storage. It had gotten mildewed over the years in its case and was somewhat out of tune, but I managed to play it. On stage, every time I would open and close the bellows, a strong mildew scent arose to my nose. When the piece concluded, I had a standing ovation. People know me as the piano technician, not the accordionist. (My performance with my sister IS documented on a CD, too!)

Over the years, I have heard and seen some extraordinary virtuoso accordionists. One was Carmen Carrozza, who was very popular in his day but I've lost track of him.

That brings me to Mel's post of Bach on the accordion. Would I buy it? Absolutely. This would be a most interesting disc to hear. I'm sure even Bach himself would have enjoyed hearing his music on this instrument since he was such a grand transcriber on his own.

Lance, you never cease to amaze me, my friend.