The name of Vladimir Besfamilnoff is synonymous with originality in the history of accordion performance. His many years on concert tour earned him wide critical acclaim and sincere praise from prominent artists. The young performer's first musical steps were with his father. Later he studied with Tkachyov at the Saratov Music School and with Zhuromsky at the Kiev School of Music. His education includes completing graduate and post-graduate studies at the Kiev Conservatorium of Music "Tchaikovsky" under the guidance of the esteemed professor Nikolay Rizol. Besfamilnoff's first musical success was winning an inter-school competition in 1940 in the Saratov region. Thereafter followed successes at national and international competitions from 1956 to 1959 in Moscow, Brussels and Vienna. Besfamilnoff won 3rd prize at the Coupe Mondiale (held in Brussels in 1958) and was in the team of the first Soviet competitors competing at the Coupe. After his performance of the test piece written by the Belgium composer Jul Katy, Besfamilnoff received a score from the composer with the following inscription "To the great and sensitive performer of my music, Vladimir Besfamilnoff, with deepest admiration of his talent, in memory of this significant day. With friendly greetings, Jul Katy". Soon the name of this talented musician became famous across the USSR and abroad. Besfamilnoff then began an active career as a soloist touring the world, television broadcasts, archive recordings for Ukrainian radio, recordings with recording company "Melodiya", participation in Juries of international competitions and seminars, etc. In time his own students have received over 40 prizes at prestigious competitions. The Kampuchean Academy of Arts honoured him with a gold medal and the title "Esteemed Cavalier". The Russian Gnessin Academy awarded him a silver disk for "Contribution to the art of accordion". In Ukraine Vladimir Besfamilnoff was the first international prize winner on the accordion, the first accordionist to tour as a soloist, the first to perform concertos with a symphony orchestra, chamber wind and entertainment orchestra. As an accordion soloist he was first to be awarded the titles "Honoured Artist of Ukraine" and "Peoples Artist of Ukraine" by the State. For thirty years Besfamilnoff has taught at the National Academy of Music in Kiev (Ukraine). Many of his students have become well-known in various countries, including Vladimir Zubitsky ( Italy), Tatjana Lukic-Marx (Australia), F. Guerret and M. Bruno (France), S. Markovich (Austria), D. Modrushan (Croatia), D. Dunne (Ireland), S. Neshich (Germany), J. Djordjevich, G. Tirnanich, S. Perich, N. Yankov (Yugoslavia), D. Kljajic (Bosnia), J. Dimitrijevich (Greece), A. Mamalyga (USA), S. Ivanovich and S. Milosevich (Switzerland), Y. Froloff (Russia), L. Trofimenko, N. Shumskiy, A Besfamilnoff, V. Khavrun, L. Padi, S. Chumak, N. Kistenyoff (Ukraine) and many others. I couldn't have ever imagined that one day I would be in a position to write about Vladimir Besfamilnoff - my teacher and the man I have the deepest respect and admiration for. But, here I am - writing a review on Besfamilnoff's recording and I cannot promise that I will not be subjective as, knowing him for the past 20 years, I have grown to highly value his musicianship and share a warm friendship with him. A collection of recordings recorded between 1952 and 1990 from the Ukrainian Radio Archives, has been released on 12 CD's. For this particular review I have chosen Volume 12 for its extraordinary content. Besfamilnoff has been a pioneer in many accordion areas, one of them playing with other instruments, symphony and chamber orchestras. On most of this recording he performs with the pipe organ (recorded at Kiev's Hall of Chamber and Organ Music), compositions written for two claviers by Baroque composers and transcribed for the accordion and organ. What an awesome combination! The beauty of the sound these two instruments create is just stunning! Another part of the recording are various virtuoso transcriptions of romantic miniatures of which Besfamilnoff is considered by his colleges to be a master of. An important part of the successful combination of accordion and organ is the instrument Basfamilnoff plays. It is a unique, fully hand-made instrument (from the first to the last screw), by famous Russian accordion builder Vasilij Kolchin. Kolchin was considered an undisputed expert in that area, building the instruments of ingenious construction and design. Another area Besfamilnoff pioneered is promoting new and unusual repertoires. It is not that well known that Edward Grieg wrote part of the second piano for 4 of Mozart's piano sonatas, creating unique duets where the classical style of Mozart is combined with the romantic style of Grieg. Throughout his career Besfamilnoff played this Sonata with pianists and on this recording with the organist. Besfamilnoff's performing style is quite unique. His playing has wonderful concentration and a power of communication that is so characteristic of his performance. In his performance of the Baroque and Classical pieces, the clarity of articulation and luminous phrasing were always to me a source of unstinted admiration. His playing is classically pure and contained, with directness, warmth and simplicity of line. In the romantic virtuoso transcriptions, his instinctive rubato only emphasised the vigorous strength of his rhythms in general. His interpretation is so harmonious in every aspect, so organic and spontaneous, that I was totally overwhelmed while listening to it. What struck me most was the great purity of line throughout the whole performance and of course there is this wonderful emotional sense. Exceptional recording! ***** |