This past Thursday I heard the extraordinary Finnish accordion player-composer Veli Kujala at the Scandanavia House 58 Park Ave. Playing solo, Veli played an assortment of pieces, old and new, on the first half. The second half was devoted to his own music, in this case a theatrical piece complete with electronics and light changes and 1/4 tones. Yes, although his button accordion appears more or less normal, it will play 1/4 tones - something that Veli exploited to great effect.
Tango Dreams, my own piece for accordion and string trio, peaked Veli's interest. I'm sending it off to Finland where Veli teaches at the Sibelius Academy. I'll also include the parts for
Serenity for accordion and clarinet. Thanks to the support of Joseph Petric in Toronto, I seem to have written a considerable amount for accordion, including my arrangement of all 6 movements of Ravel's
Tombeau de Couperin for accordion, violin, cello, and oboe as well as a raft of tango arrangements for accordion with string trio and baritone for my show,
Close Embrace.
Here's
Tango Dreams as a ballet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSo7rE-eebQ&list=PLE776D037B4FA83C9&index=1&feature=plpp_video
And some of
Close Embrace (an accordion spectacular):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHxJizagFD0&list=PLF385A950519C1948&index=1&feature=plpp_video
And a couple of MP3's from
Tombeau de Couperin, as played by Quarteto Gelato:
http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/mp3/Tomb1Pre.mp3
http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/mp3/Tomb6Toc.mp3
Accordionists of the world, where are you? Ask me for these pieces. I would be happy to send them.
By the way, The Scandanavia House is a nice hall, about 200 seats, a fair sized stage, and lighting possibilities. Although it specializes in Scandanavian music, there are other types of music presented here. Rental?
Accordionists! Email me!
rayluedeke@gmail.com
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