Scarlatti, Bach, Kagel, Takahashi & Zubitsky: Works for Accordion

Featuring

Alexander Matrosov
Domenico Scarlatti
Johann Sebastian Bach
Mauricio Kagel
Wendy Poussard
Yuji Takahashi

Vladimir Zubitsky

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Composer Biography

Yuji Takahashi, composer of 'Like a Water Buffalo', co-founded the composers group 'tranSonic' with Toru Takemitsu and Joji Yuasa in 1972, and later the 'Suigyu Band' to perform Asian protest songs.

Performer Biography

Alexander Matrosov, the accordionist on this album, was born in 1979 in Tschimkent, Kazakhstan, and began his studies at the Special College For Musically Gifted Children Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg.

Interpretation

Alexander Matrosov, the accordionist, describes Mauricio Kagel's 'Episoden, Figuren' as the most difficult piece he has played, requiring him to completely lose awareness of his own body during performance.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mauricio Kagel, the composer of 'Episoden, Figuren', found the accordion unique and believed a new New Music would need such sound generators, despite its association with folk or entertainment music.

Compositional Technique

Mauricio Kagel's 'Episoden, Figuren' includes theatrical stage directions for the performer, such as playing by heart, gazing at the audience with wide eyes, and freezing a smile at the end.

Composer Biography

Mauricio Kagel, composer of 'Episoden, Figuren', studied Philosophy and History of Literature at the University of Buenos Aires before moving to Cologne in 1957.

Performer Biography

Between 1990 and 2005, Alexander Matrosov received 20 awards and accolades, including winning the 4th IAA International Accordion Competition in Tokyo in 2005.