Concerto Piccolo for Accordion and Chamber Orchestra

[Jos Wylin]

Here is the first movement of my Concerto Piccolo.

The solo instrument is the Efimov Bayan, played by Kontakt5. Unfortunately, there is no (classical) accordion in VSL. Kontakt made it very hard: VE Pro crashed continuously on my Mac or it took ages to quit, sometimes without saving the midi data. The Efimov accordion sounds great, but it is rather limited in usage. It doesn't have velocity to play with and the CC11 expression reacts in a logarithmic way, which makes it extremely hard to work with small expressive dynamic nuances. There are only 4 key switches: stacc, det, sus and a small accented crescendo.
I needed a convertible accordion (with a right and left hand discant), which means that most other available instruments are useless for that purpose. (And they also use the Kontakt Player.)

Anyway, here is the first movement. Now that I have a template in my DAW, the rest should be a lot easier. The music is ready, now the midi performances.

Concerto Piccolo, Allegro Divertente

Jos

[jasensmith]

Hello Jos, This is a very fun piece that knows no boundaries. It's lighthearted and just kind of has a mind of its own without a care in the world. Well done Jos! You're right about VSL not having an accordion and I just noticed that. Maybe they'll release one as part of a future yodelling project 8^D Anyway. I enjoyed your piece and thank you for sharing.

[Jos Wylin]

Thanks Jasen,

This piece is meant for classically trained accordion students in the intermediate level. I've been playing the accordion during my whole life, but unfortunately enough, we didn't have the opportunity to study it in conservatory (didn't even exist). All there was, was private tuition: expensive and so depending of the quality of the teacher and his vision. You could call this concerto some sort of compensation for what I was never able to do. My musical studies went in another direction.
Since the concerto is written for bayan or convertible, the yodelling project won't do any good. The accordion required for this project should have two discant keyboards (left and right) to play full counterpoint between hands. A traditional accordion has a right hand discant and a left hand bass/chord unity. A modern convertible accordion can play both techniques. Therefore it is called 'convertible' and can compete with most classical orchestral and soloing instruments as to play range, phrasing and dynamic movement on a very high virtuoso level.

Thanks for listening. The rest is soon to come.

Jos

[WPeppercorn]

Excellent piece and so unique...this is a wonderful composition Jos. I've listened a few times all the way through and keep going back to it. I love the accordion and remember listening to my Opa play (he was from Köln). The instrument is mesmerizing when put into concerto form. Masterfully done!

I do have a question....it seems like this movement is written in C Major yet the title says G minor...what am I missing Jos?

[Jos Wylin]

Thanks a lot Wayne. And thanks for drawing my attention to a mistake. Indeed, it's not G minor, but C major. I must have been confused, because I'm working on a piece in G minor... I didn't notice the error when publishing. I'll correct that immediately.

The accordion is indeed an underestimated instrument. It can do a lot more than just play easy folk tunes or cheap dancing music. The level of this small concerto will be between high and intermediate. Just fit for students quitting conservatory and looking for acceptible concert music.

All the best!

Jos

[Paul McGraw]

I never heard anything like this. It is truly unique. 

Question: as a very talented accordian artist yourself, why not record the solo part live?

I am really looking forward to the other movements.

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for listening/commenting. Indeed, comments here have become rather rare to exceptional. A sad evolution. I've mentioned this before in a few topics about music that the aim is to present compositions, arrangements, instrumentations with VSL in this forum section (see the title) and not philosophical reflexions about music and its evolution. That could easily be a valuable, but different topic.

And yes, in my younger years - when I was more active as a performer - I could have played most of the accordion part, but my instrument is a traditional accordion and I was trained to play that way. The concerto was written for the modern convertible accordion (on which you can change the bass side with a switch to an equivalent of the right hand side (discant)). A total different way of playing which I don't master... But I know a young female accordionist in Norway who is eager to play it, at least when there is an orchester willing do so so as well.

Jos

[Paul McGraw]

@Jos Wylin said:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for listening/commenting. Indeed, comments here have become rather rare to exceptional. A sad evolution. I've mentioned this before in a few topics about music that the aim is to present compositions, arrangements, instrumentations with VSL in this forum section (see the title) and not philosophical reflexions about music and its evolution. That could easily be a valuable, but different topic.

And yes, in my younger years - when I was more active as a performer - I could have played most of the accordion part, but my instrument is a traditional accordion and I was trained to play that way. The concerto was written for the modern convertible accordion (on which you can change the bass side with a switch to an equivalent of the right hand side (discant)). A total different way of playing which I don't master... But I know a young female accordionist in Norway who is eager to play it, at least when there is an orchester willing do so so as well.

Jos

Composing seems to be an outlet for many of us older folks. I am 65. I used to play cello and trombone, but as I got older I simply cannot perform at the level I used to achieve. Too depressing so I gave up playing an instrument. 

As for the lack of listener comments, I'm not sure of the exact reason. Perhaps it has to do with the isolation caused by computers and the internet. Yet without computers and the internet could we compose for samples? Could we have a forum like this? Difficult questions.

And another product of the isolation, an increased intolerance for differing opinions, values and judgments. People conflate a difference in opinion or judgment into hatred of that individual. It is especially amazing when the intolerance is camouflaged as a pseudo-tolerance.

While I was thinking of the attacks upon my person when I wrote of my judgment regarding Cage and atonalism generally, this lack of tolerance could also explain why your work with the accordion is not generally accepted. It is different, outside of most folks experience. The existing paradigm does not acknowledge the accordion as worthy of being included in classical music. Just a possibility. Personally, I think it is a very original and fresh sound.

[William]

I felt like the accordion should be more monophonic and less spread out because it starts to blend in too much with the orchestra. 

That is a small thing though - it is such a great piece, I really like it.  As noted it is a very unique sound overall and the music is really fun to listen to.  Also, the fast runs highlights the virtuosic aspects of accordion which people often don't hear.  

[Jos Wylin]

Thanks William for the advice. I was aware of that, but it is so hard to make one instrument out of two, without losing the separate voices of right and left hand keyboard. The Efimov bayan doesn't have the discant keyboard in the left hand, only the traditional bass/chord-keyboard, which is in this context not usable. Therefore I had to take two right hands (separate instruments) and bring them together on the stage. Maybe your suggestion to bring them to mono will help. I will try this  for sure!

Jos

[Philippe BAYLAC]

Hi Jos,

very interesting and pleasant piece. Very well done !

As a French guy, it always makes me smile when I watch a movie and suddenly, a scene is happening in Paris and we hear in the background music an air of "bal musette" played on accordion ... The post-war period begins to be far behind now and Paris is no more synonymous with accordion, and the accordion is not limited to "bal musette". Here is an excellent proof!

Thank you Jos for this very refreshing work, ideal in this holiday period.

As a bonus, a link to Padre Antonio Soler (1729-1783) played on an accordion 😃🎁

Antonio Soler

Happy Holidays !

Phil

[Jos Wylin]

Thanks Philippe,

Special thanks for the nice example, but there are actually thousands of extremely difficult pieces out there for solo accodion/bayan, mainly from Russian and Ukranian composers. But we needn't look that far. Our fellow-member David Carovillano is an excellent accordion player as well and has composed such lovely music for the instrument, that exceeds amply the traditional misconception that the accordion is and will always be a typical street or folk instrument, or (in the US) a (God forgive me) polka instrument in the most ancient meaning of the word. In Europe and certainly in east Europe, the accordion is a first class classical instrument and for that reason, the level is absolutely top of the world. You can easily find hundreds of post on Youtube with solo players or concert players meeting that level. My concerto is designed for a rather intermediate level, for young students looking for playable and musically interesting material for an affordable concert.

Here's another example of high class accordion (bayan) music by Semyonov, Sonata n° 1.

I hope this offers a total different view on the modern accordion.

Jos

[Jos Wylin]

Hi William,

I've made some changes to the accordion: a bit more in the center front, stereo width a lot less. I couldn't get in in pure mono. To do so, I would have to reinstanciate Kontakt in mono in my DAW. The new version is on the same link.

Thanks for your advice. 

Jos