Classical Anyone!

[Walker]

They say there are numerous periods in Classical music and if my Higher Music stands me in good stead the following musical categories can broadly represent the various periods - though I should add that at the time of my Higher music exam the last category did not yet exist!

Medieval (500s to 1400)
Renaissance (1400 to 1600)
Baroque (1600 to mid 1700s)
Classical (mid 1700 to 1820s)
Romantic (1820s to 1900)
20th Century (1900 to 2000)
Contemporary (2000 ongoing)

Categories tend to blur at the edges, as you would expect, so the boundaries are not very strict, but generally speaking each period has its own style and character.

The accordion was invented around Beethoven's later years. It was he who effectively 'switched the lights out' on the Classical era to usher in the start of the Romantic era, so the accordion is a product of the Romantic era, though I guess at the beginning it was used for folk music or novelty entertainment and would not really reach its most complete forms or fullest studies until the 1950s and later. Basically we missed out on most of the good stuff!

I'd like to start by exploring some pieces I find interesting from the Classical period, an era marked by balance, proportion, structure, formality. This is a recording by Vasyl Bendas, who is a marvellous accordion player that has really increased my appreciation of the piano accordion with chromatic free bass enormously. I've often overlooked the PA + chromatic combo because it looks really difficult to play (though rewarding I'm sure). However, this man is terrific and the way he navigated those huge left hand movements is heroic. I'm becoming a big fan of this musician and his PA + chromatic free bass left hand...

Here we start with Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor:​

 

[Rosie C]

They say there are numerous periods in Classical music and if my Higher Music stands me in good stead the following musical categories can broadly represent the various periods - though I should add that at the time of my Higher music exam the last category did not yet exist!

Medieval (500s to 1400)
Renaissance (1400 to 1600)
Baroque (1600 to mid 1700s)
Classical (mid 1700 to 1820s)
Romantic (1820s to 1900)
20th Century (1900 to 2000)
Contemporary (2000 ongoing)
​

That's more or less what they taught us at the Open University a couple of years ago. Renaissance is my favourite period, though I particularly like the Romantic too.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for this info Stewart. You learn something new every day. That is a fantastic sounding accordion, well played.

 

[Walker]

No single composer can really capture the full experience of any musical era, but before we move on from the Classical era I'd like to briefly mention two other heavyweights. Besides the giant that was Beethoven, there were many great composers, and two names stand out to me as very special - Haydn and Mozart!

Theo Ould demonstrates further the spirit of Classical music with his poised and elegant renditions of Haydn and Mozart. He plays C system CBA... I wonder does C stand for Classic!

I hope you enjoy the light melodies and unobtrusive harmonies and... sheer balance!​

Haydn:



Mozart:

 

[Walker]

The classical period in music was a hard act to follow, but if ever there was an new era up to the task it was Romanticism that stepped up and delivered. Now I expect we already know this, but Romantic era is not lovey-dovey central - this was the time of the Victorians - a smooch free zone!

So what is Romantic music? Well, if ever there was a musical era that could start with the words 'once upon a time' it was the Romantic era. From it's early days (circa 1820) the Romantic era was poetic and idealised; it relished the spooky and the macabre; it revelled in old folk traditions and national identity; it breathed in the glories of nature; it danced with the fairies of the forest and shimmered like the ghostly moonlight. It was emotional, evocative and often elaborate. If Romantic music were a house, it would have spires, stained glass and the pointed arches of the neo-gothic!

I'll start here with a piece by Puccini, called Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums), an elegy for a friend...



Next, is a selection of lyric pieces by Grieg.



Finally, here is a piece by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, the Saltarello Romano, a virtuosic piece inspired by the folk dances of Italy. Apparently, this is the first time this piece has been played by an accordionist - impressive work Sophie Herzog! (Incidentally, the Vasyl Bendas performance of Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor is also claimed to be a world first for accordion too).

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[saundersbp]

Next, is a selection of lyric pieces by Grieg.

Hmm, I prefer a bit more steady and rounded....

 

[losthobos]

Vasyl.....wow ...what a tone....
And Vitaly.....check his fingers...he seems to be curling his fingers, like playing with his nails rather than fingertips ....I can't remember name of french teacher teaching this method today but he is Hohners rep....oops remembered Frederic Deschamps
Interesting approach

 

[Tom]

Cool stuff Stewart and Ben, thanks! Sounds like the Romantic ethos was right out of Scotland…..

 

[Tom]

Hmm, I prefer a bit more steady and rounded....

You have cooler shoes too.

 

[Walker]

Hmm, I prefer a bit more steady and rounded....

Awesome work, the tune relaxes and breathes. I think you quite like the Grieg lyric pieces. The Arietta is very nice too... **hint**

Vasyl.....wow ...what a tone....

Totally agree, the Giustozzi sounds really great in the Vasyl recording... considering there are players in the other recordings with top-notch Bugari, Pigini and Jupiter models. The Giustozzi's not out of place.

He has a terrific technique too. Ridiculously good.

And Vitaly.....check his fingers...he seems to be curling his fingers, like playing with his nails rather than fingertips ....I can't remember name of french teacher teaching this method today but he is Hohners rep....oops remembered Frederic Deschamps
Interesting approach

Vitaly is very fine box player, I think he's been practicing night and day... interesting 'paw' technique, probably the latest in bayan technique.

Cool stuff Stewart and Ben, thanks! Sounds like the Romantic ethos was right out of Scotland…..

Absolutely, Ben's an excellent accordion player!

The Romanticisation of Scotland is a thing (the whole of Britain really too, in different ways). Perhaps the most famous work of the Scottish Romantic Composer Hamish MacCunn, was the piece entitled Land of the Mountain and the Flood.

​

 

[saundersbp]

I can't remember name of french teacher teaching this method today but he is Hohners rep....oops remembered Frederic Deschamps
Interesting approach

Interesting teacher...hmm...a euphemism? I find the "technique" aggressive, affected, deeply unmusical and bizarre.
The player is good but I'd give the teacher a wide berth....

Awesome work, the tune relaxes and breathes. I think you quite like the Grieg lyric pieces. The Arietta is very nice too... **hint**

Bless you for the hint....taken...

 

[debra]

I like most all "classical music", from renaissance to 20th century, but my favorite music is really baroque (not just Bach, Handel, Vivaldi but also some of the less popular composers). I also like Mozart very much, and consider him a transitional figure that led music from baroque into the classical music era. He more often did away with the continuo parts (to be filled in by the player) but still kept the cadenzas, to be filled in by a soloist.
As many know I make arrangements of all periods of music for accordion ensemble and am approaching the 250 mark. Of these I guess that about 40% is what falls under baroque (up to Mozart), 30% is classical (Haydn, Mendelssohn, Beethoven and others), 30% is romantic (think of Schumann for instance) and the rest is more recent, including names like Poulenc, Satie, Shostakovich, etc.)
The challenges in making the arrangements is different for each period. Baroque requires making up the continuo part and cadenzas. Classical is often rich orchestral and is difficult to reduce to just a few (preferably 5, sometimes 6 to 8) accordion parts. Later music varies, some still very rich and some pretty "minimal" (as in minimal music). I like arranging music from all periods though. I currently have music from 121 composers and cannot really name a single favorite composition. Yes I like (and have) Brandenburg 3, Erbarme Dich and other favorites like (2 out of 4) Quattro Stagioni, and I have Mozart pieces that clearly sound like baroque (like his violin concerto nr. 1) and pieces that sound more classical like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (that still requires the many ornaments and baroque trills)... and for me "classical" is best represented by Haydn and Mendelssohn. I'm generally not very keen on the many dissonants in later music (turn of 19'th to 20th century) but I do like "Les Biches" by Poulenc and some pieces by Satie. Interestingly music that really sounds like classical or romantic did make a comeback in the 20th century and Shostakovich is a good example of classical/romantic music not coming from the classical and romantic era.
It's easy to fool people about what era a piece of music is from as all genres have been composed in the 20th century as well.
Just one example... a piece composed in the 20th century (and arranged for accordion duo or ensemble):

Some people will know what this is... (and others can read the description).

 

[Walker]

As I gaze out of my living room window this early morn and drink in the glowing sunlight of the valley, my eye follows the luscious emerald oaks that line the riverbank. I watch as they meander up stream, and as I do I begin to notice new layers of undulation in the meadows, then woodlands behind, then low hills, then mountains on the horizon. Somehow it reminds me of what came before the Classical era, and so I started to type...

The baroque is surely the great wellspring of inspiration for free bass accordionists and there are many gifted composers of this era, and a few giants too, like the oaks in the valley.

The further upstream I go I realise it is the early baroque music of the British Isles and many gems of Purcell, Croft, Blow that capture my attention the most. For example, here's a most pleasant recording by Vlatko of William Crofts Ground in C minor...



Of course this is just the start... would be great to hear your favourite music from the baroque era.​

 

[debra]

...
Of course this is just the start... would be great to hear your favourite music from the baroque era.​

One of my all-time favorites:

What's not to like here?... Maybe that it has been performed too many times?

 

[PhiliGol]

Wow - just awesome.
I found access to baroque music and Bach via Walter Carlos recording (yes my record still says Walter - I know she later transgendered to Wendy) of this particular piece.
Always was thinking if this works as a transcription for the Moog couldn't this be done for 5-6 excellent accordion players?
Many, many years later I did it - just the 3rd movement; and through this another door opened: music scoring by professional computer tools, since I thought to myself: no you can't do a Brandenburg concerto by hand.
I still like it (both W. Carlos' rendition as well as my own).
Your's outperforms them both - especially the cadenca (2nd movement) - so nice how you proceed from the 1st movement into 3rd.
But also tempo and precision of the 3rd - simply great.

 

[losthobos]

Interesting teacher...hmm...a euphemism? I find the "technique" aggressive, affected, deeply unmusical and bizarre.

Just for amusement I found a clip of Deschamps theory....

Right or wrong best make your own minds up ...some other interesting concepts in his other videos ..I shall try with the ideas perhaps they'll lead me to enlightenment.... perhaps they just give me cramp ... perhaps they'll just sound *****...who knows...but an open minds got me this far....

 

[saundersbp]

perhaps they just give me cramp ...

Remove the 'm' from the last word and you have a succinct summary of the 'theory'...

 

[Walker]

Thank you @debra for sharing the J. S. Bach recording. It is only right for this behemoth of a composer to be prominent amongst the baroque composers. Great choice of music too.

Following on from my first choice recording of William Croft's Ground in C minor (often incorrectly attributed to Henry Purcell) I would like to share another lesser known but marvellous composer of the mid Baroque era. This is a piece written by Domenico Zipoli (1688 to 1726), an Italian Jesuit missionary in South America who taught music to the Gaurani in what is now modern day Argentina.

The piece being played is the Sarabanda from his Suite No. 2 in G minor, played by Italian accordionist Giuseppe Sirena on a piano accordion with quint free bass converter...

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[Jaoe]

Of course this is just the start... would be great to hear your favourite music from the baroque era.​

I like Rameau:

 

[debra]

I like Rameau:

One of Rameau's most famous works is "Les Indes Galantes", from which I arranged the probably best known song.