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 THE
HEART OF THE ANDES
No wonder Guy
Klucevsek has had such a long career as a composer and performer
for the worlds of theatre and dance. His music just begs to have
a screen or a stage as accompaniment! One can imagine the action
when listening to the above pieces, and for anyone performing
these pieces, that is exactly what they must have in abundance:
a vivid imagination to interpret them in the outstanding manner
that Klucevsek so successfully captures!
This
is not the big, bombastic playing that some people favor, nor
is it the barrage of terrifically fast fingers running races in
both hands. But it is indeed beautifully performed with lovely
phrasing, clean and clear technique, and wonderfully tasteful
choices in registration and the sometimes too short snippets of
melody, often too fleetingly developed, are interesting and worthy
of attention. Klucevsek uses both stradella and free bass left
hand to great advantage and, once again, proves the modern day
accordionist must be proficient in both hands and with both left
hand systems.
He
uses a multitude of challenging rhythms at various times, infusing
changing patterns of accents which, by the way, are not garishly
over played. This is contemporary music but it is not the kind
that people often say they do not like to hear; there is plenty
of melodic interest happening. Oh, yes, there is indeed one use
of the bellows shake, but it is so tastefully employed you will
never know it until you realize you're hearing an accordion technique
that enhances the performance of the music.
The
sound of the accordion is hard to record; this is recorded exceptionally
well. The instrument really sounds good! Perhaps we have better
sound engineers than in the past. There are no forced or over-played
reeds, whether with the deep growling lows of the bass (as in
The Heart of the Andes, for example, or The Prelude #3) or with
the piercing highs of the right hand heard beautifully and clearly
over these lows. And the alternation of sounds between the hands
(Three Chase Scenes, particularly) blend so well you will not
distinguish between the two. You will find a musically well performed
bellows vibrato in #21's Reprises.
The
pieces are uniformly interesting. I am sure each of us will have
our own particular favorites among them. Be sure to check out
#5. The Air Apparent and #6. Old Miner's Refrain. In the latter
you will believe you are at an old time hymn-fest for sure! I
found #8. The Birds simply lovely with charming dynamic control
with a left hand melody so pure and clear. Very stylish! And #18.
The Gift…we are not given a clue about this gem, but I can
well imagine it as a shy and unassuming Valentine's Day offering.
I cannot forget mentioning #21. Mini Bar Talk, another very attractive
and far too short jewel exhibiting the tiniest bit of a jazzy
improvisational feel.
As
you may assume from the above, I enjoyed this recording. I also
admired the tasteful and somewhat restrained musicianship so thoroughly
artistic and evident throughout.
Reviewed by Joan
Cochran Sommers.
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