Janne Rattya was born in 1974 in Finland. He studied with Heidi Velamo, Matis Rantaned and Mie Miki, and received a scholarship from the " Finnish Cultural Foundation", Wihuri Foundation and the Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienst. He won first prize in the "Arrasate Hiria" competition in Spain in 1996. Concert tours have taken him to various countries in Europe and to Japan. Since 2000 he has been a lecturer at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and at the Folkwang Hochshule in Essen. This would be one of few classical accordion recordings (if not the only one) completely dedicated to the music of J.S. Bach, in particular to his Two Part Inventions and Three Part Sinfonias, and as such this recording is a valuable contribution towards the classical accordion recordings. It is common practice on other instruments such as violin , piano, etc. to have whole cycles of a composer's works recorded, for that matter there are cycles of Bach's works recorded by many different artists, but this is not often found in the world of classical accordion. In that regard this recording by Janne Rattya is probably unique, plus the fact that Jannes performance is of the highest level by any standard, makes this recording "a must" in the phono-library of any classical accordionist. Janne has a deep and refined understanding for the style. His polyphonic thinking is amazing as a result of which his voice-leading is masterful. At times the impression is that he plays on a non-bellows instrument and can control the volume of every voice, making one dominate another to great extent - it's very impressive. Janne's absolute technical freedom enables him to use an even, crystal clear leggiero touch throughout his performance - one of the most difficult touches to achieve on the accordion. Janne's performance is intelligent and sophisticated. He is a professional of a very high standard and I highly recommend this recording. |
