Music at Paxton: Ryan Corbett Accordion
Paxton House - 24/07/22
Ryan Corbett’s name has become increasingly familiar to music lovers in the last year with appearances at the Lammermuir, Buxton and St Magnus Festivals, and many other venues. Several weeks ago he had an early morning rise to play live on Petroc Trelawney’s ‘Breakfast Coast to Coast’ week on Radio 3, and he’s recently been appointed as one of this year’s BBC New Generation artists, the first ever accordionist to be chosen.
Nevertheless I imagine that many of the audience for Saturday’s lunchtime recital at Paxton didn’t know what to expect. Despite the chairman’s injunction to relax and enjoy the music, relaxation wasn’t in order – but in a good way. This was an exciting, energetic performance, expanding our knowledge of what is possible on this instrument while appreciating the talent of this inspiring young musician.
Corbett begins with his own arrangement of Bach’s ‘Prelude and Fugue in A Minor’, and the room is overwhelmed by organ-like sounds, except when, at the start of the fugue, the focus is suddenly concentrated on just two lines of music. I enjoyed my front row seat enormously, wondering what it was like to play a keyboard sideways, let alone all these buttons. We’re given a quick lesson on accordion basics later. After the lush harmonies of the Bach, the Scarlatti sonata is pared down – a harpsicord rather than a cathedral organ. We can appreciate the more intricate finger-work and ornamentation.
It's only when we hear the modern works composed for accordion that we appreciate its full range. Alexander Nagaev’s Sonata No1 shows us how physically demanding this music can be. The first movement features what the programme describes as insistent repeated chords. In practice this requires the player to press the buttons with his left hand with such force that his body shakes. Musically the work alternates between such fierce dramatic moments and softer tuneful passages, needing less power and more delicate fingering.
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romance in F Minor’ in Corbett’s arrangement provides sweeping melodic reassurance before the Konzertstück by Czech composer, Jindrich Feld returns us to the world of demanding atonal music. Some of it, involving dissonant chords, was as hard to listen to as it was to play! But there’s never any doubt about the technical skill on show here. Corbett with his quiet manner, and witty knowledgeable commentary is a splendid ambassador for the accordion.
A piece by the contemporary French composer, Franck Angelis, based on music by Piazzola, takes us to the world of the tango, in both its energetic and more seductive aspects. Finally we have some Mendelssohn, written when he was about the same age as Corbett. It starts with delicacy and grows to virtuosic intensity.
What a revelation this concert has been! You can read more about Ryan Corbett on his website. Catch him at one of his two Fringe appearances at 9.30am on the 8th and 10th of August in ‘Bach for Breakfast’ at the Royal Scots Club on Abercromby Place.
