Winter Sketches
This is a CD dedicated to Russian music as interpreted by the bayan accordion. the player is the young and talented Bjarke Mogensen,who offers us a captivating programme based on Russian popular and folk music.
The programme is based along three principal lines; the first consists of arrangements for bayan of traditional melodies; this is the most significant and characterises a large part of the Russian ( or ex soviet) accordion repertoire. here we have arrangements, sometimes elaborations or re creations of such composers as: Panitsky (Fantasy on Oi , Snowball Tree), Londonov (Two Russian Folk Songs), Semyonov (Kalina Krasnaya), Na Yun Kin (Fantasy on Two Russian Themes) and Chernikov (Ei Ukhnem!).
The second part is dedicated to original compositions for bayan, represented here by three composers and pieces now considered "classics" in accordion composition: W. Solotaryov and his Chamber Suite, Capriccio by A. Repnikov and A.I. Kusyakov, Winter Sketches which gives the CD its title.
The third and final part is made up of transcriptions , by Mogensen himself, of some suggestive “miniatures” by three giants of Russian music:Russian Dance and Nocturne by Tchaikovsky, In the Village by Mussorgsky, March and Scherzo by Prokofiev.
In conclusion, a CD that confirms the value and fascination of Russian music in general and for the bayan in particular, and that puts among the great accordionists the Dane Bjarke Mogensen.
Reviewed by Alessandro Mugnoz – June 2011
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