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. |
