For his second recording, French accordionist Bruno Maurice has chosen a program consisting of baroque, classical and original pieces for the accordion. (For Bruno’s biographical details see the review of his CD Appassionata on 16th June 2000). Bruno begins his program with his own piece: "Saumur", showing that he is also a talented composer. I felt in Bruno's composing style, influence of the Russian accordion composing school: Semionov, Zubitsky, etc. The piece is musically very interesting, contentious and performed very inspiringly. I found Bruno's performance of the Scarlatti Sonata in E Major absolutely exceptional. While staying within the frame of the baroque style, his performance is incredibly emotional, making this sonata "alive". So often I come across recordings where Scarlatti is performed bland and emotionless, out of concern to not be too romantic, making the way this music sounds like a "museum item" - lifeless and out of the real world. I also loved Bruno's performance of Bach's Triple Fugue and Mozart's Variations - it is emotionally very involved, approached with amazing musical maturity while on the other hand not stepping out of the borders of the style and good musical taste. While listening to the recording, it is very clear that Bruno immensely enjoys playing pieces originally written for the accordion (Semionov, Zubitsky, etc.). Having absolute technical freedom, he performs very convincingly, profoundly moving and emotionally involving. He finishes off his program with the "Valse Triest" showing that he is also a great miniaturist: refined and noble in expression I cannot speak about this recording highly enough. |
