‘COOL’ MUSIC ACCORDING TO SOME
Musician intent on changing tunes around the accordion, writes David Gordon Duke.
An accordion recital to open the 2016/17 season of the Vancouver Recital Society? Are you kidding? Concertgoers who know artistic director Leila Getz already know she embraces the unexpected. And you can bet that if Getz is impressed, we will be too. Which brings us to the Canadian debut performance of Ksenija Sidorova, who may well be poised to do for the classical accordion what Andres Segovia did for the classical guitar in terms of changing public attitudes.
Sidorova was born to a Russian family in Riga, Latvia. When I spoke to her, she explained: “I spent summers with my grandparents, and when I was eight my grandpa gave me this accordion a neighbour had found in an attic. My parents came to collect me after the summer, and they were not impressed. I guess it was not a usual choice for a child, especially a girl, but my grandmother loved it and sang songs along with me.”
Sidorova journeyed to London and its renowned Royal Academy of Music. Was it hard to establish that she was a serious student of her often undervalued instrument? Not at all. Accordion was already on the map and the academy had an existing program. “I owe a lot to my predecessors, the people who pioneered it as a serious musical instrument. I thought I was coming to the Royal Academy for a master class, but it turned out to be the entrance exam.”
Repertoire remains some- thing of a conundrum. Sidorova is interested in expanding her instrument’s reach, which means commissioning new works from contemporary composers. “Sometimes composers do not know exactly how the instrument works, and when you show them, they get quite excited.”
Composers aren’t the only ones getting excited by the accordion. The prestige, not just the popularity, of the instrument has been on the upswing for decades.
A few days ago, Vancouver’s eclectic Accordion Noir Festival wrapped up its ninth season. Accordion may once have been neglected, but not any more. “This accordion boom happened partly because during the Second World War nobody had access to instruments, or any money,” notes Sidorova. “The accordion was considered a folk instrument, the ‘piano of the people.’ Slowly, people began to consider its sound ‘cool.’”
Even so, a full-length classical recital requires a strategy. “You have to find your own way. I attempt to include as many new works as I can in a recital, but I also try to show how the instrument can bring something new — new sonorities, new dynam- ics.” This certainly underscores Sidorova’s debut recording: an accordion version of music from Bizet’s Carmen.
For her debut program in Vancouver, there’s a lot of variety: music by Mozart, Moszkowski, and Rachmaninov, a trio of compositions by Russian composers, and even a work by Alfred Schnittke. “You have to give something new to the audience,” says Sidorova. “It is not always about simply pleasing the crowd. There is an educational element — which of course I hope will ultimately please them.”
“The main question when I choose something to play is whether I can bring something new to the piece.” Sidorova acknowledges there are still those who scoff at the idea of an entire program of accordion solo. Luckily, the Vancouver Recital Society is not among them.