Accordionist Ksenija Sidorova has attracted wide attention with an aggressive attempt to expand the scope of the accordion in classical music, commissioning new works and arrangements of established repertory. Here, Sidorova tries something different: she takes up repertory by a composer associated with the accordion's close relative, the bandoneón, and mixes it with newly composed works of the same general mood as the tangos by Astor Piazzolla that make up the bulk of the program. The mix is persuasive, even as it ranges ...
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Accordionist Ksenija Sidorova has attracted wide attention with an aggressive attempt to expand the scope of the accordion in classical music, commissioning new works and arrangements of established repertory. Here, Sidorova tries something different: she takes up repertory by a composer associated with the accordion's close relative, the bandoneón, and mixes it with newly composed works of the same general mood as the tangos by Astor Piazzolla that make up the bulk of the program. The mix is persuasive, even as it ranges from Bach to contemporary pop composer Sergey Voitenko and other modern figures that will likely be unfamiliar to western audiences; Sidorova manages to combine her orientation toward contemporary music with Piazzolla. It should be noted that Sidorova plays an accordion, which has somewhat less expressive range than Piazzolla's bandoneón, and Piazzolla's Concerto for bandoneón and chamber orchestra, even with the high-powered collaboration of the NDR Elbphilharmonie under conductor Thomas Hengelbrock, comes off a bit mechanically. She has a fine feeling for Piazzolla in the shorter pieces, though, and the album has an X factor that comes from its being unlike anything else out there and from the performer's sense of personal connection to all of the music. The sound, although recorded in three different venues, is consistently good. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
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