The Vereiniging Winterthurer Accordion
Orchestra Association was founded in 1928 by Hermann Baur Senior
together with five other accordionists. Quickly the association
found listeners and new members. In 1932 an orchestra for the
younger generation was founded. The association has set a good
example in Switzerland up to today. Often Hermann Baur Senior
led 200 accordionists during big festival events in the streets
of Winterthur and made the orchestra well known far outside the
region.
The size and the level of the players
always made it possible for the association to engage professional
musicians as conductors. After Hermann Baur Senior retired, his
son Hermann Baur Junior followed in his footsteps until 1993.
Currently, Sergej Stukalin conducts the Vereiniging Winterthurer
Accordion Orchestra. Today, the association contains about 60
active players and is still one of the largest in Switzerland.
The orchestra was awarded second place at the Innsbruck 1998 Accordion
Festival and Competition.
The Vereiniging Winterthurer Accordion
Orchestra chose a repertoire consisting of light classical and
popular pieces (arranged for accordion orchestra) for this, their
first recording. The Orchestra is a musical unit which impresses
by its sophistication from the moment you start listening to them.
In particular, sophistication in terms of the general sound they
create as well as interpretation. To start with basics, this orchestra
takes special care of the registration, so the whole unit sounds
"in tune", contrary to many other accordion orchestras where some
accordions have musette tuning, some have straight tuning, or
the instruments are tuned differently. As a result there is that
"out of tune" sound, which often creates a bad image of the accordion
orchestra amongst other musicians.
From their performance, it is obvious
that the Vereiniging Winterthurer Accordion Orchestra takes special
care of the sound image they create as a unit: it is all well
balanced tonally, with proper registration, etc.
Some of the pieces the orchestra
plays are technically very demanding and the orchestra and its
members meet these technical demands with ease, showing brilliant
virtuosity and mobility. Musically, their interpretation is inspired,
spirited, with wide phrasing and good musical taste.
I am most impressed by this orchestra
and its performance, and highly recommend this recording.
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