The point of my playlists is to expand my – and your – field of listening and to hopefully find your next favorite music maker. In this effort, it is important to expand not just style of music but also the instruments used in that music making. This week I turn to instruments utilizing free reeds (which are reeds usually made of metal, attached at one end and free to vibrate on the other). This type of reed gives accordions, harmoniums, and melodicas a very unique sound. I’m very much outside of the experimental accordion world, and the biggest window I found was in Matti Pulkki’s dissertation Gnarly Buttons: Composer-Performer Collaboration in Contemporary Accordion Music. (I think its safe to assume the title points to the John Adam’s work Gnarly Buttons which utilizes accordion samples.)
Although the playlist went in a very different direction, it was originally going to center around the word of the Elder Ones, whose leader – composer/vocalist Amirtha Kidambi – plays harmonium in the ensemble. I got sidetracked by accordion works so more harmonium, melodica, and I’m just now realizing harmonica works will be included in volume 2!
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I give this playlist a Difficult Listening Hour rating of 8/10.
i am a terrible mathematician (and an even worse clown) by Yara Asmar. Album: Stuttering Music.
“Asmar’s compositions blur the lines between improvisation and structured melody, creating an ethereal atmosphere that lingers long after the final note fades.” – Imran Mirza, Twisted Soul
Echoes off Cliffs V. by Martin Lohse performed by Bjarke Mogensen. Album: Echoes
The composer on his process, “In my music, I try to encircle small musical moments and atmospheres, which can timeless progress and unfold. The collocation and collision of a “pure” and clear music with a disintegrated and multi-layered music is one of the main characteristic of my music. In the heart, the music often emanate a harmonic and melodic reminiscence of past experiences in glints or longer periods which combined with a floating sensation (accelerando, decelerando etc.) creates a music with the organic form as one of its main foundations.”
Looking on Darkness by Bent Sørensen performed by Frode Haltli. Album: Looking on Darkness
From the liner notes, “Looking on Darkness is the solo recording debut of accordionist Frode Haltli, a major talent from Norway, destined to make his mark on several genres. He was last heard on ECM in the company of Trygve Seim and friends, but his primary commitment is to the performance of contemporary composition and this album features Nordic new music – from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland – written for the accordion. Four of the five pieces are premiere recordings, written especially for Halti. They add up to a fascinating landscape of new music from the north, music which casts its inspirational net wide.”
Jubilant Phantoms (2021); for virtual just intonation accordion & video by Phong Tran & Bekah Simms. Album: Ghost Songs
I highly recommend watching this track on YouTube!!
Earth by Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi performed by Matti Pulkki. Album: Experimental Link 5.
From the composer’s bio, “Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi is an Iranian composer and performer. She writes for hybrid instrumental/electronic ensembles, creates electroacoustic and audiovisual works, builds instruments, and performs electronic music. She explores the unfamiliar familiar while being motivated by how melodies unfold through time; finding ways to play with various musical thresholds and exploring musical extremes is something that she is currently attracted to. Her work experiments with merging Iranian music with the more contemporary classical music aesthetics.”
Eat the Rich by Amirtha Kidambi performed by Elder Ones. Album: From Untruth
From the liner notes, “The second release by Amirtha Kidambi’s ensemble Elder Ones, From Untruth is comprised of four pieces grappling with issues of power, oppression, capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, violence and the shifting nature of truth. This music means to give the listener momentary relief from the anxiety and pain caused by living in our current reality.”
Refuge by Alexina Louie performed by Beverley Johnston, Erica Goodman, Joseph Macerollo. Album: Symonds: Persuasion / Buczynski: Fantasy On Themes of the Past / Louie: Earth Cycles / Camilleri: Accordion Concerto
From the composer’s bio, “One of Canadaʼs most sought after composers, Alexina Louie has written for many of the countryʼs leading soloists, chamber ensembles, new music groups and orchestras. Her works have become part of the standard repertoire, in particular her many compositions for piano which are frequently performed by students and professionals alike. Perhaps best known of these is Scenes From A Jade Terrace, commissioned by Jon Kimura Parker.
Louie’s orchestral works have received a multitude of important international performances. Some of the world renowned conductors who have performed her music include Sir Andrew Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Alexander Lazarev, Charles Dutoit, Bramwell Tovey, Gunther Herbig, Pinchas Zukerman, Kent Nagano, Peter Oundjian, Carlos Kalmar, James Judd, and Ingo Metzmacher.”
Blow Winds by Pauline Oliveros. Album: The Roots of the Movement
From the composer’s bio, “Pauline Oliveros’ life as a composer, performer and humanitarian was about opening her own and others’ sensibilities to the universe and facets of sounds. Her career spanned fifty years of boundary dissolving music making. In the ’50s she was part of a circle of iconoclastic composers, artists, poets gathered together in San Francisco. In the 1960’s she influenced American music profoundly through her work with improvisation, meditation, electronic music, myth and ritual.”
-When I Switched On a Light by Maria Schneider performed by Iñaki Alberdi Music Project. Album: Dream.
“One of Iñaki Alberdi’s constant obsessions as an accordion player has been to provide the instrument with a repertoire that it lacked, given its recent incorporation into the world of academic concerts. That is why from the beginning of his career he has considered that working hand in hand with contemporary composers was fundamental for the expansion of that repertoire, which, in addition, would be the best legacy to leave to future generations of accordionists.”
Melismantra by Terry Riley and Gyan Riley. Album: Way out Yonder.
From the liner notes, “Way Out Yonder is the second live release from The Rileys, the duo comprised of iconic American composer and minimalist pioneer Terry Riley and his guitarist/composer son Gyan Riley. This 77-minute recording is comprised of spontaneous improvisations and compositions by both Terry and Gyan, captured during three performances in Canada, Japan and the US, and features the elder Riley on piano, voice, melodica and electronics. The album artwork was created by Barbara Falconer, who also painted the cover of Riley’s landmark 1978 release, Sri Camel.”
Plus I by Jukka Tiensuu performed by Duo Essentia. Album: Broken Shake
From the composer’s bio, “Since the 1970’s Jukka Tiensuu (born in Helsinki, 1948) has been a leading exponent of new music in Finland. He pursued musical studies at the Sibelius Academy, the Juilliard School, the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik, Paris IRCAM, and other musical institutions. Not only a prolific composer over the widest range of musical media, Tiensuu is an eminent harpsichordist, a conductor, and pianist as well.”
Nocturne 3 by Marcello Panni performed by Duo Essentia. Album: Broken Shake
About the duo, “Essentia is what is left when the two protagonists of this sound itinerary, the clarinet and the accordion, “strip off their clothes” (namely what they usually mean in the repertoire), returning to be pure instruments: essential, in fact. When the two instruments feed on the same, totally aerial substance, the blank page in front of us can only become a territory of new discoveries and fascinations. A particularly intriguing trail, when composers of different schools and generations accept the encounter with a unpublished and yet extraordinarily effective and rich repertoire.”
Zolo by Jukka Tiensuu performed by Matti Rantanen. Album: Finnish Works for Accordion.
QUARTET (1998) for accordion, clarinet, double-Bass and Piano by Rebecca Saunders performed by Ensemble Musikfabrik. Album: Rebecca Saunders: Ensemble Works
Kin by Gabriel Erkoreka performed by Inaki Alberdi. Album: Música de cámara actual
Spur – for solo accordion and orchestra by Arne Nordheim performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Album: Listen – The Art of Arne Nordheim.