Bach on the accordion

[ardcarp]

If this sounds a bad idea, try:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b081tjjw#play

(about 24 mins from the start)

I was quite bowled over by the magnificent playing of Bach's English Suite No.2
I was trying to envisage the instrument...and wondered how many hands this wonderful artist had!

[Nick Armstrong]

Haven't heard that yet, but I've had and loved this recording of the Goldberg Variations since it came out!

If this sounds a bad idea, try:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b081tjjw#play

(about 24 mins from the start)

I was quite bowled over by the magnificent playing of Bach's English Suite No.2
I was trying to envisage the instrument...and wondered how many hands this wonderful artist had!

[ardcarp]

Thanks, Calibs. Another one for the Festive Stocking.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If this sounds a bad idea, try:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b081tjjw#play

One of the most exciting live performances of a piece by Bach I've ever heard was a group of schoolkids from Hackney playing the Badinerie from the Second Orchestral Suite ... on Steel Pans.

Nothing surprises me that this indestructible Music sounds well on just about any instrument, no matter how outlandish it might look on paper. It can even sound fantastic played on a modern Piano!

[Nick Armstrong]

Nothing surprises me that this indestructible Music sounds well on just about any instrument, no matter how outlandish it might look on paper. It can even sound fantastic played on a modern Piano!

The thing about the accordion - judging by the Goldberg disc I mentioned - is that it sounds a little like a small pipe organ. And what it conjures up to me is the image of JSB entering a small country church and having a go through his piece on the little wheezy instrument he happened to find there...

[doversoul1]

It was probably on Tuesdays’ programme, Andreas Borregaard was interviewed by the presenter and explained the difference between his instrument and more traditional type. In that he mentioned (I think) something like ‘traditional instrument is not suitable for polyphony’. An intriguing thought.

[oddoneout]

it sounds a little like a small pipe organ. And what it conjures up to me is the image of JSB entering a small country church and having a go through his piece on the little wheezy instrument he happened to find there...

I was in the kitchen when this started so missed the intro and when I came through thought at first that it was an organ of some kind. Couldn't help smiling as I listened, and imagining the fingers flying.

[gradus]

Ever heard Mie Mikie in Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau, Greig etc, very good indeed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_AwZKNtSEc
Shame that the superb Jack Emblow recorded no classical stuff - as far as I know. He played a simply sublime (non-classical) gig with Martin Taylor a few years ago that was recorded but can't be released.

[ardcarp]

You've really got me started now! There's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UtAmSw1CLo

..played on the 'button' accordion. I've no idea if that's the right word for it, but the RH doesn't play a 'piano' type keyboard. It seems that rapid articulation can be made with much less moving around of the whole hand. Any experts out there?

[doversoul1]

You've really got me started now! There's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UtAmSw1CLo

..played on the 'button' accordion. I've no idea if that's the right word for it, but the RH doesn't play a 'piano' type keyboard. It seems that rapid articulation can be made with much less moving around of the whole hand. Any experts out there?

Here’s wiki

Free-bass system
A free-bass system is a system of bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater access to playing melodies on the left-hand manual of the instrument and to forming one's own chords, by providing a buttonboard of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in contrast to the standard Stradella bass system which only allows bass notes (range of a major seventh) and preset major, minor, dominant seventh, and diminished chords. The term "free-bass system" refers to various left-hand manual systems that provide this functionality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-bass_system

[ardcarp]

I'm again speaking from a position of pure ignorance, but I think that refers to the buttons the LH plays..and the different systems and patterns thereof. Most accordions we see are piano-accordions which have a piano-style keyboard for the RH. But in the clip of the bloke with long-ish hair, the RH is also playing on buttons.
So good old Wiki comes up with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_accordion

I guess he's using a chromatic button accordion.

[MrGongGong]

You've really got me started now! There's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UtAmSw1CLo

..played on the 'button' accordion. I've no idea if that's the right word for it, but the RH doesn't play a 'piano' type keyboard. It seems that rapid articulation can be made with much less moving around of the whole hand. Any experts out there?

The "piano type" keyboard is ridiculously un-ergonomic if you think about human arms move.
What is great about the LH of the piano accordion (if you are playing "key based" music) is that the buttons for the most likely chords/notes are placed adjacently (in diagonals).

The Freebass system has each button being a single note rather than what you get on (for example) a 48 Bass piano accordion (or button accordion) where the "dimple" is a C, the note immediately above (counterbass is an E) then diagonally you get a chord of C Major, C Minor, C Maj7, C Dim. The next rows would be F or G and so on, in a circle of fifths.

It's important to differentiate between the button accordion and the melodeon where (on the melodeon) the "pull" and "push" play different notes.
There is also a Russian system which is completely baffling and a bit like driving a car where the pedals change randomly about

Some other keyboard arrangements

http://squeezehead.com/uniform-keyboard/

[ahinton]

Nothing surprises me that this indestructible Music sounds well on just about any instrument, no matter how outlandish it might look on paper.

Indeed; that is a fundamental constituent of the sheer inviolability of this extraordinary music to all except lousy performances.

It can even sound fantastic played on a modern Piano!

Aaaarrrgghh! (and that's not short for Argerich, either).

Kevin Bowyer, who has recorded the complete organ music of Bach, began his keyboard studies with the accordion but soon gave it up; given his uniquely virtuosic achievements as an organist (Bach, Ferneyhough, Bach, Vierne, Bach, Xenakis, Bach, Messiaen, Bach and several hundred other composers, not to mention the first two of Sorabji's three monumental organ symphonies), one might wonder what his accordion playing might have turned out to be like had he pursued his original line of keyboard enquiry...

[MrGongGong]

Nothing surprises me that this indestructible Music sounds well on just about any instrument, no matter how outlandish it might look on paper.

It is interesting to think about how some music (Bach being the perfect example) is more "robust" than others.
(and avoiding the usual diversion into Feldman and Lucier etc)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Aaaarrrgghh! (and that's not short for Argerich, either).

Oh, but I must insist - it can sound fantastic on modern piano!

Kevin Bowyer, who has recorded the complete organ music of Bach, began his keyboard studies with the accordion but soon gave it up; given his uniquely virtuosic achievements as an organist (Bach, Ferneyhough, Bach, Vierne, Bach, Xenakis, Bach, Messiaen, Bach and several hundred other composers, not to mention the first two of Sorabji's three monumental organ symphonies), one might wonder what his accordion playing might have turned out to be like had he pursued his original line of keyboard enquiry...

I would imagine that there'd be a lot more compositions written for accordion. I'm certain that there'd be a gap in my CD shelves!