Accordion Salon Folk Music

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Streaming Classical Music (22-1): Byways - Accordions, Folk and Salon Music
Letter from Shenzhen (22-2): Byways of Classical Music

Happy New Year, I have a lot of Streaming advice to air but my compulsive self and penchant for long articles impede progress. So, I decided to jump-start the year on a lighter note. Byways, or Crossovers, or...

Accordion Though familiar to many who listen to folk music, the accordion is not really a classical musical instrument, yet its coloristic potential has been recognized by many modern composers, including (the great) Berio. Today, there are many virtuosi who actively transcribe music for this instrument. For myself, I love the sound of the instrument, as it invokes simple joy and nostalgia (used in many great films).

This is a temporal narrative. Just recently, I was stunned by Russian-Canadian Alexander Sevastian’s Bach recording (Analekta). It is of course a closely miked recording, yet it conveys the bowel sound of the instrument that is not at all unlike the mighty church organ (without the hall sound and reverb). An audio trick, but a good one.

Aroused, I dug more into this musician. I listened to his other excellent albums. Too bad he had recently passed away, but I learned that he was in a “light classical” ensemble called Quartetto Gelato. I streamed some of their albums (Linus, Marquis, etc), not available on NML but are on China’s Kuwo streaming platform. The first one I streamed was Mazurka, and it gripped me. This is a great group, capable of anything. I have long been familiar with “salon music”, from the olden times of Alfredo Campoli to now. Not many albums command total attention. But this group is superior. I urge you to explore. Although I listened to them on Kuwo, I am sure they are on Spotify and Tidal. In the coming days I shall stream more of their stuff.

This kind of ensemble is not uncommon. For Americans, Bluegrass derived Bela Fleck should be familiar, but, for classical oriented person like me, I prefer the Ensemble Gelato, not the least because of the bass weighting of the Accordion. But, I’d take this opportunity to recommend again anything played by banjo wizard Chris Thile, who has appeared with Fleck, Yoyo Ma and the likes (his Sony Bach albums are gems).

As mentioned, the accordion has raised its head in recent times. Even I caught up. Richard Galliano first called, and I cherish his Bach album (DG). And then DG followed with “sexy” Ksenjia Sidorova, whose programs didn’t really arouse me. But then now I have discovered that her earlier albums (Alpha and Champs Hill) contain much more challenging material! You should stream those, rather than DG. This is a serious musician. And now Sevastian, whose recordings are more “masculine” and have much weightier recorded tones than the more refined sound of Sidorova.

When it comes to Accordion, one cannot escape Astor Piazzolla and the Tango. But, as one reviewer remarked, it’s a tribute to these musicians that their best tracks are not Piazzolla!

Russian Folk Music And the accordion’s cousin Bayan. I have long loved Russian folk music. The Russians play their folk music with an orchestra sporting variously sized balalaikas (and the Chinese orchestra copied that with the erhu) with the support of bayan and dorma. One of my favorite albums is the Balalaika Favorites (Mercury). Indeed that is my number one Mercury album, and that says a lot for a hifi addict. For those who can source it, an equally worthwhile album with even more folk music (like Troika) by a more modern iteration of the same Osipov Orchestra is Evening in Moscow (Moscow Nights) 莫斯科近郊的晚上 (Hong Kong label Hugo, 雨果, excellent sonics). I never tire of hearing these.

Salon Orchestras As mentioned, Salon orchestras have long been around. I’d like to remind you here of an audiophile favorite, Maastricht Orchestra’s Serenata (originally on Philips). This orchestra sported crossover prince Andre Rieu but is favored by silly audiophiles for its bird song. However, musically it is pretty satisfying.

Hard to Categorize Finally, I urge you to listen to classically trained Chinese composer Gong Linna 龚琳娜. Her song tante 忐忑, is improvisation based, in an invented “Chinese style” that in my opinion is no less worthy than any of Jazz’ greats. It fully deserves its viral spread and innumerable imitations on 斗音Tik Tok.

I hope this is short and sweet. It has been for me, and I hope so for you too. All the best in 2022.