classical music on the stradella, links to recordings

[barkis]

I'd like to listen to some classical music played on the stradella bass, to hear what that sounds like (as opposed to free bass).
If you guys have links to such recordings, videos etc. please post them here. {}

 

[Pippa]

I would also be really interested to hear that!

(I'm just going to move this thread to a more appropriate forum )

 

[Reedwarbler]

There is quite a collection on you tube

 

[fjsys]

I recorded a Toccata in D minor a while back.


Ben

 

[simonking]

So wheres the Fugue that follows?! Only joking, thats rock hard. Good effort, sounds very different slowly but the speed will come and anyway Im far too prone to attempting to run before walking, which inevitably leads to an embarrassing face-plant. I would suggest not using any tremolo tuned couplers and things will immediately sounds better. I bought a copy of this arranged for Stradella bass when I first got my accordion - and still havent learned it - got the first page of the fugue but have since forgotten it...

Reedwarblers suggestions - the Vivaldi is played by a quintet, so no-one is using the left hand there anyway.

A piece Im learning at the moment is Prelude and Fugue in C minor from book 1 of the well-tempered clavier. I have definitely seen someone playing both the prelude and fugue on youtube on a standard bass accordion but I cant find it at the moment - if you want to see a truly fabulous performance of this on free bass accordion here it is:

 

[Reedwarbler]

Reedwarblers suggestions - the Vivaldi is played by a quintet, so no-one is using the left hand there anyway.

Absolutely correct, but I think it sounds pretty good anyway.

 

[barkis]

There is quite a collection on you tube

Yeah, I assumed there would be. But Im so new to music and to the accordion that I cant judge what bass system they use. I simply assume that most of them use the free bass since that supposedly fits better with classical music.

I have resently begun to learn to play the (stradella bass) accordion and I kind of like classical music so I want to check that out.

Thank you for those links!

 

[simonking]

Absolutely correct, but I think it sounds pretty good anyway.

Certainly does! Id love to have a go at playing in an accordion group like that.

Here is the piece I was on about earlier played on a standard bass instrument:

I think that baroque music particularly suits the accordion but if youre interested in other classical works, I have some sheet music arranged for stradella bass of well-know stuff by Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, Sibelius, some of which I found in my local library and scanned in. I will see I can find some of these transcriptions being performed on youtube.

 

[Zevy]

You can try my solo album of mostly classical pieces (played on stradella accordion) titled, William Tell. You can access some sample files here

 

[Buttons]

Take a look and listen to Paul Chamberlain at http://www.theaccordionist.com who does some grand stuff. Classical is not my thing yet so I am a bit of a heathen but well worth a look at his web page where he has both a tape and a cd showing.

http://www.theaccordionist.com

Best wishes.

 

[Matt Butcher]

This is harder than I thought, the likes of Toralf Tollefson and Pietro Deiro used to play classical music on stradella i the first half of the twentieth century, personally I think Pietro Deiro did it very well, not so sure about Tollefson but he was a big star. BUT they dont seem to have left much trace on You tube.

 

[bocsa]

- clear shots of the bass

Tutorial:

 

[simonking]

Very good, but it's not using the Stradella bass system as found on any standard accordion which I think is what the original question was about.

 

[barkis]

Am I right when I think Ken Mahler uses the stradella bass in these videos?

There are more good videos with Ken Mahler on youtube you might want to check out.

 

[Pietro]

Yes you are correct Barkis, he is using Stradella to good effect. His instrument doesn't appear to have freebass anyway.

In an earlier post on this thread Buttons referred to Paul Chamberlain's playing, well Paul is an excellent player of course, but plays a Bayan and much of his performance is on the freebass, but he occasionally switches to Staradella. I will be going to see him play in Leeds once again at the end of this month and very much looking forward to it.

Pete

 

[joe]

Has anybody else tried The Classical Tradition by Gary Dahl? I love this book. Well, mostly, I love that it exists. I don't know how Mr. Dahl (or whoever) got a modern music publisher to agree to produce a book of traditional, classical pieces arranged for stradella bass accordion in 2012, but there you go. It's a great range of difficulty. I would consider myself an advanced beginner and I found I could basically sight read a few pieces; most are a nice, reasonable challenge; and a couple are really tough but look good for the future! I couldn't find recordings of the arrangements; perhaps I should figure out how to record and post. Sadly, this book seems not to have sold so well, as it seems to be selling pretty inexpensively on remainder, so pick one up!
Joe

 

[simonking]

Amazing! Never knew that one existed until now - one of the similar books I found from decades ago at the library was called "Meisterwerke fuer Akkordeon" I think, but it was very difficult. This doesn't look easy either but I just ordered my copy to give it a go. Thanks.

 

[barkis]

This book really looks interesting!

Could you name some of the melodies in it?
Are there fingerings marked also? For piano only or for C-system as well?

 

[joe]

Contents:
Finlandia - Sibelius
O Mio Babbino Caro (single note) - Puccini
O Mio Babbino Caro - Puccini
Nessun Dorma - Puccini
Un Bel Di Vedremo - Puccini
Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner
Quando Me'n Vo' - Puccini
Mattinata - Leoncavallo
A Serenata De Rose - di Capua
La Danza - Rossini Funiculi, Funicula - Denza & Turco
The Moldau - Smetana
Piano Concerto No 2 - Rachmaninoff
Clair de Lune - Debussy
Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 - Liszt
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Strauss
The Blue Danube - Strauss
Largo - Dvorak
Libiamo - Verdi
Romanza - Dahl
La Traviata - Verdi
M'Appari Tutt' Amor - Von Flotow
To The Evening Star - Wagner
Una Furtiva Lagrima - Donizetti
Tango for Astor - Dahl
The Swan - Saint-Saens
Gliding Dance of the Maidens - Borodin
Maple Leaf Rag - Joplin
Rag in D minor - Frosini
Pilgrims' Chorus - Wagner

There is a pretty generous preview on Google Books, in the U.S. at least. Fingerings are for piano accordion. I don't see any separate CBA fingerings.

 

[barkis]

<FONT font=cursive><SIZE size=150>Thank you very much joe :ch