The Koncertino accordion ensemble
was founded by Ricardas Sviackevicius in 1978 and has developed
into an outstanding musical group which has been unmatched within
the former Soviet Union as well as in western countries. The
members of the quintet are all professional musicians - accordionists,
who are working as teachers at music schools and conservatories
within their home city.
Ricardas Sviackevicius is one
of the leading public figures of the accordion music scene in
the Baltics, being long-standing President of the accordion
association of the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)
and the organizer and founder of the International Baltic Music
Festival.
The quintet
is cooperating successfully with renowned composers to develop
new possibilities of musical expression and sound facets for
the accordion ensemble. Quite often they perform together with
other instruments and achieve an especially colorful sound.
This is
truly an exceptional ensemble! Listening to the Koncertino Accordion
Quintet was a real musical experience: inspiring, spiritually
lifting and emotionally charging.
Not often,
do you come across small accordion ensembles (accordion trios,
quartets, quintets, etc.) and even more rare, to come across
a GOOD accordion ensemble. This quintet of accordionists is
unique as a form.
From the
first couple of bars it was obvious that all the members of
the ensemble are professionals of the high standard. Ricardas
Sviackevicius has assembled a fine ensemble - no one stars and
what really impresses is their togetherness, oneness and tightness.
Listening
to this recording I was trying to establish which one would
be my favorite track. Amazingly enough, I couldn't choose only
one! The ensembles extraordinarily extensive repertoire covers
almost all different styles of music. I loved on this recording
their performance of Bach's Badinerie, Chatschaturijan's Waltzer,
Nocturne, Mazurka, Swiridow's and Schostakovitch's pieces as
well. Equally impressive were pieces written by modern Lithuanian
composers: Bagdonas, Balsys, Juozapaitis, Farkas, Svedas, Gaizauskas..
Their music is full of inner charge, intelligent, emotional,
talented, and left a very strong impression with me. I LOVED
it!
Also very
interesting are the pieces where the ensemble appears with the
birbina - a traditional Lithuanian woodwind folk instrument.
The birbina's warm, nostalgic sound blends in well with the
accordions, creating a very special musical atmosphere.
The Ensemble's
performance is stylistically refined, intelligent, with the
deep understanding for the musical contents of the pieces performed,
technically clear and crisp. Undoubtedly, this would be one
of the best recordings lately - don't on any account miss it!
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