Krzysztof Meyer's Quasi una Sonata for guitar and accordion will be premiered on May 28, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. at the Warsaw Philharmonic. The work was commissioned by the Institute of Music and Dance as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme.
The accordion’s history is not long as compared with that of other instruments. It properly begins in the 1820s. In 1821 Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann built a prototype, later developed by another instrument builder – the Austrian Cyril Demian, who in 1829 obtained a patent for an ‘accordion’. This one of the most interesting musical tools ever built by man can truly kindle the imagination (what is it that ‘plays’ in this machine?). On the outside we in fact only see the bellows with (usually button) keyboards on both sides. But the secret is concealed inside. In terms of sound production, the accordion is in fact a wind instrument, like the flute, bassoon, clarinet, oboe, or horn. One could attempt to describe the accordion as a quite powerful‑ sounding wind ensemble enclosed in a structure that can easily be operated by just one musician.
The accordion has its own recognisable, original sound. In the hands of an expert player, its palette of sound is enormous – from delicate melodic lines to sharp brutal tones. It can be slow and lazy, but also very lively. It has an attractive ability to collaborate, but also to oppose other instruments. At the concert it will play with stringed instruments (the violin, guitar and piano) which differ again in the technique of sound production: bowing the strings (the violin), striking them with hammers (the piano), and plucking (the guitar). Inexhaustible potential for sound combinations, surprising colours and textural diversity. The works in thr programme, written over a period of more than 150 years (from Molique’s Sonata of 1857 to the premiere of Krzysztof Meyer’s Quasi una Sonata for guitar and accordion) will enhance this multiplicity.
The concert is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the “Composing Commissions” programme implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance.
More information at: http://filharmonia.pl/