Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova offers a disclaimer: "It will probably be a while before the phrase 'I play the classical accordion' doesn't sound unusual or funny!" But she has taken a big step toward legitimizing the instrument with this release from Britain's Champs Hill label. It avoids the twin poles that have characterized much of the classical accordion music that has appeared thus far: music influenced by the jazz avant-garde on one hand, and reworked folk styles on the other. Sidorova offers two types of ...
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Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova offers a disclaimer: "It will probably be a while before the phrase 'I play the classical accordion' doesn't sound unusual or funny!" But she has taken a big step toward legitimizing the instrument with this release from Britain's Champs Hill label. It avoids the twin poles that have characterized much of the classical accordion music that has appeared thus far: music influenced by the jazz avant-garde on one hand, and reworked folk styles on the other. Sidorova offers two types of music: contemporary compositions for accordion and arrangements of Baroque and Classical keyboard works. The listener will be struck by how well the whole program holds together and how well executed Sidorova's arrangements are; hearing transcriptions of Bach, Mozart, and Domenico Scarlatti after works by Luciano Berio and Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim, you feel as though you're hearing the music in a new way. This isn't due just to the fact of the accordion's novelty: Sidorova shapes...
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