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! |
