For Classical Accordion Lovers
Doktorski Henry
Dear Friends,
It is with great pleasure that I present to you the fiftieth edition of
THE FREE-REED REVIEW.
When I started this column a little over a year ago, I had no idea that it
would become so successful. I've received quite a collection (75 to be
exact) of CDs and books originating from artists and record labels from
New Zealand to Austria and dozens of places in between.
Right now I have a stack of 30 CDs and books on my desk which are waiting
to be reviewed. (The complete list follows this week's review.) In fact,
just today I received a CD from Finland entitled "Black Birds" by Marjut
Tynkkynen (music composed by Kalevi Aho).
This week's featured CD, "Robert Sattler Plays the Bayan" arrived in my
mailbox back in November. I apologize for the long wait, but I can only
afford to write one review per week, since it takes several hours to
listen to the CD (at least once, more-often-than-not twice or thrice), and
then to organize my thoughts and type them.
I thank you for your patience.
In conclusion, I thank all of you for your encouraging letters and I
apologize for my offenses to all the artists whom I have criticized; an
inevitable result of my attempt to be honest in my service to you as a music
critic.
Sincerely,
Henry
The FREE-REED REVIEW
edition # 50
Robert Sattler Plays the Bayan
Robert Sattler, bayan
with
Vyacheslav Semyonov, bayan
Natalia Semyonova, domra
and the Osipov Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments
Nikolai Kalinin, conductor
Program:
Nikolai Chaikin: Sarabande
Jacques Ibert: Le Petit Ane Blanc (transcription)
Vyacheslav Semyonov: Belolitsa, Kruglolitsa (White-Faced, Round-Faced)
Semyonov: Kalina Krasnaya (Guilder Rose)
Semyonov: Children's Suite No. 2
Fanfares
March of the Toy Soldiers
Arietta
Baby Cuckoo
The Loud Accompanist
Vladimir Chernikov: The Wide Steppe Anatoly
Shalaev: Russian Snowstorm
Albin Repnikov: Capriccio -- live recording with orchestra
Semyonov: Don Cossack Rhapsody (finale movement) -- live recording with
orchestra
total time: 40:41
label: Sattler Associates, Inc.
PO Box 57086
Atlanta, GA 30343-1086
phone: 1-800-284-1364 (U.S. only)
e mail: <RSat...@aol.com>
Review by Henry Doktorski:
This album is exceptional; it is (to my knowledge) the first CD of
original music for the bayan written by Russian composers (with the
notable exception of the Ibert piece) performed by an American artist. I
hope that this recording will help dispel the current (and unfortunately
accurate) view that the United States is lacking in classical
accordionists of concert calibre, at least compared to the Eastern and
Western European nations.
Robert Sattler is amazing; although he is a successful businessman by
occupation, his playing sounds almost like that of a full-time
professional concert artist. I am simply delighted that, despite the lack
of sufficient financial remuneration necessary to eke out a living as a
concert bayanist in the United States (considering the specialized
audience for the instrument and its consequent lack of employment
opportunities in this country), Mr. Sattler was never-the-less able to
find the artistic and financial resources to record this CD.
Robert Sattler is well-known to American concert accordion aficionados.
He is a graduate of the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music in
Kansas City (one of two universities in the United States which still
offer degree programs in accordion performance) where he studied with Joan
Sommers. In 1976 he was the U.S. champion in the Accordion Teachers Guild
competition and represented the United States in the Coupe Mondiale (World
Cup) competition where he received the bronze medal.
Today Sattler is on the board of the Accordion Teachers Guild and a key
performer in the Atlanta Balalaika Society and is presently continuing his
bayan studies with Professor Vyacheslav Semyonov of the Gnessin Institute
of Music in Moscow. In this recording, we hear his debut performance as
soloist with the Osipov Russian Folk Instruments Orchestra on the stage of
the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow.
About the music: Nikolai Chaikin (b. 1915) is one of the first composers
to write concert music for the accordion. His Sarabande comes from his
Concert Suite (1962), a four-movement work for solo bayan.
Le Petit Ane Blanc, originally written for piano by Jacques Ibert
(1890-1962), is a well-known piece famous for its musical portrayal of the
braying of a donkey.
White-Faced Round-Faced, Guilder Rose and Children's Suite No. 2, by the
Russian bayanist/composer Vyacheslav Semyonov (Sattler's bayan teacher),
are based on Russian folk songs and popular melodies. In 1995 Semyonov
was honored with the People's Artist of Russia award by president Boris
Yeltsin in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts,
exemplified by his concert bayan artistry and original compositions for
the instrument.
His incredibly beautiful setting of a popular song by Jan Frenkel --
Guilder Rose -- is my favorite piece on the CD. After a series of
variations, the theme returns pianissimo at the ending accompanied by a
pedal point on the raised sub-dominant: very striking and attractive. I
was so charmed by this piece that I set my CD player on repeat and played
it over and over again.
The Wide Steppe by Vladimir Chernikov (1947-1994) is written for two
bayans and domra (a Russian stringed folk instrument). The second bayan
and domra parts were performed by Sattler's own teacher and his wife
Natalia.
Russian Snowstorm, a duet for two bayans by Anatoly Shalaev (b. 1925), is
a descriptive character piece.
The final two pieces on this CD, Capriccio by Albin Repnikov (b. 1932) and
Don Cossack Rhapsody (by Semyonov) feature Robert Sattler as soloist with
the Osipov Orchestra of Moscow -- a Russian folk instruments orchestra
founded in 1919 which consists of over one hundred professional domra,
balalaika, bayan, woodwind and percussion players. The Cossack Rhapsody
is an impressive conclusion to the CD; unfortunately sometimes the sound
of the bayan seemed to get lost in the orchestra.
Although Sattler is not yet what I would consider a great virtuoso player
(like his teacher), he is, none-the-less, a fine performer and deserves
international recognition.
The cover art is superb; a painting by Joey Potter which has a remarkable
resemblance to Sattler and the CD booklet notes are informative and in
English. I wish Sattler would have increased the length of this CD. In
my opinion forty minutes is not long enough; the album is seems to end too
quickly. Why not record the entire Chaikin Suite? The Prelude, Fugue and
Scherzo deserve to be heard along with the Sarabande.
Another criticism: the track numbers are screwed up. Track number one
(believe it or not) is four seconds of silence (intended to allow the
listener enough time to walk to their sofa and sit down after inserting
the disc in their CD player). Unfortunately, the track numbers are not
printed with the titles on the back cover, so unless you already know
these pieces, you may get lost and not know which piece is playing. (I
had to write personally to Sattler to find out what which track numbers
went with which pieces.)
Despite these few inconveniences, I highly recommend "Robert Sattler Plays
the Bayan" for all lovers of classical (actually romantic)
twentieth-century Russian bayan music. This album is a fitting tribute
from a serious student to his qualified teacher and I'm sure that
professor Semyonov is extremely proud of his pupil's accomplishment.
The entire collection of reviews in "The Free-Reed Review" will be posted
on a web-site in the near-future.
Readers are invited to submit CDs and books for review in this column.
Contact the author at <DOKTO...@duq3.cc.duq.edu> for details.
Future Reviews:
SAMFUNDET: Classical Accordion Edition
Pablo Mainetti: Astor Piazzolla Concerto for Bandoneon
Geir Draugsvoll: Sofia Gubaidulina
Sy Kushner: The Klezmer Fake Book Volume 2
The Sy Kushner Jewish Music Ensemble: KlezSqueeze!
Stanislav Venglevski: Nutcracker Suite
Friedrich Lips: Encore
Dick Contino
Book: Accordion Man
Book: Schimmel: Falling From Grace
Ivar Frounberg
Sven Erik Werner
Geir Draugsvoll: Works for Classical Accordion
Geir Draugsvoll: Classical Accordion
John Custie: Polka; A New Dawning
Terem Quartet: Classical
Terem Quartet: Terem
Book: Harmonikka taidemusiikissa by Helka Kymalainen
Book: The Concertina in Victorian England
Angelo Di Pippo: Arthur Street
Guy Klucevsek: Transylvanian Software
Guy Klucevsek: Who Stole the Polka?
Guy Klucevsek: Stolen Memories
Vaclav Trojan: Fairy Tales
Klezmatics: Possessed
Air New Zealand Accordion Orchestra on Tour
Budowitz: Klezmermusik des 19. Jahrhunderts
Sylvie Proulx: Tango Nuevo; Music of Astor Piazzolla
Marjut Tynkkynen: Kalevi Aho; Black Birds
Veikko Ahvenainen: Finland Calling
Angel Luis Casta–o: Musika Kontenporaneoa Akordeoia
Werner Glutsch: Virtuose Musik auf dem Akkordeon
Bogdan Precz Acco-Lab: For Daniel
Maria Kalaniemi
Teppo VŠlimŠki: TŠysin Palkein, Best of Finnish Folk Accordion
Past Reviews:
1 Marin Nasturica: Virtuoso
2 Jim Rommel: Prost!
3 The Music Makars: Scottish Dance Music
4 Friedrich Lips: Also sprach Zarathustra
5 Myron Floren: 22 of the Greatest Polka Hits
6 Astor Piazzolla: Luna
7 Planet Squeezebox (3 CD Anthology)
7a Interview with Planet Squeezebox producer Michal Shapiro
8 Friedrich Lips: Russisch und Trepak
9 William Schimmel: Dead End Avenue
9a Interview with composer / accordionist William Schimmel
10 Reeltime
11 The Celtic Consort
11a Interview with Wendy Morrison, Celtic Consort concertina player
12 La Musgana: Las Seis Tentaciones
13 Alan Hovhaness: The Rubaiyat; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz - conductor
14: Marin Nasturica: Jazz & Romance
15: Klezmatics: Jews with Horns
16: Pauline Oliveros: Deep Listening
16a: Interview with composer / accordionist Pauline Oliveros
17: I.K. Dairo M.B.E. & His Blue Spots
18: Bogdan Precz: Acordeon
19: Quartetto Gelato
20 Robert Davine: Concert Accordion Artistry
21: Sofia Gubaidulina: Seiben Worte / In croce
22: Anthony Braxton with Ted Reichman: 1993 (Leipzig)
23: Henry Doktorski: A Classical Christmas
24: Stanislav Venglevski: Stas!
25: Semyonov Plays His Transcriptions
26: Mogens Ellegaard: Contemporary Danish Accordion Music
27: Klezmer Music: A Marriage of Heaven and Earth: Various Artists
28: Alfred Melichar: AccoMusic
29: Deishovida: fast folk
30: Otto Lechner: Accordeonata
31: Book Review: The History of the Accordion in New Zealand
32: Herluf Donslund: Harp and Soul
33: Good Music Polka Band: It's a Polka Party!
34: Richard Galliano: Laurita
35: Gerhard StŠbler: fallen, fallen . . .
36: Tiger Moth: Mothballs
37: The John Kirkpatrick Band: Force of Habit
38: Morten Rossen: Cassa Fisarmonia
39: Enrique Ugarte plays Bolero, Sabre Dance, Czardas
40: Hugo Diaz: Tango Argentino, Baroque Classics
41: Quartetto Gelato: Rustic Chivalry
42: Joseph Macerollo: Persuasion
43 QuarTango
44 Amadeus Ensemble and friends: Music of Marjan Mozetich
45: Veikko Ahvenainen: The Studio Recordings of Helsinki
46: Christiane Bonnay & Philippe Loli: Nouvelle Musique
47: Dan Newton: Cafe Accordion
48: Cafe Accordion Orchestra: Dancing on the Moon
49: Guy Klucevsek: Manhattan Cascade
50: Robert Sattler Plays the Bayan