Ksenija Sidorova - Fairy Tales (2013)

This is Ksenija’s second album for Champs Hill Records and combines old and new repertoire; transcriptions and original works. Ksenija says: “As an accordionist you sort of have to carve your own path, so I consider it my mission in this way to introduce the instrument to a wider audience”. The Fairy Tales concerto by Vaclav Trojan recorded with BBC NOW, is written in an approachable style with beautiful heartfelt melodies. The disc includes arrangements and transcriptions of virtuosic showpieces including Moszowski’s Caprice Espagnol, the Scherzo from Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a transcription that has its roots in Rachmaninov’s arrangement) and Grieg’s Holberg Suite. A contemporary composition Who’s the Puppet ? written for Ksenija by Russian composer Artem Vassiliev and Petr Londonov’s Scherzo-Toccata, a popular piece with accordionists, but little-known to wider concert audiences, showcase the accordion’s expressive and dramatic powers. For the final bonus track on the album Ksenija and the orchestra are joined by rising star violinist Thomas Gould for a sensitive performance of Piazzolla’s Oblivion. “These two young musicians showed what they can do, and what can be done, with their instruments. In so doing, they repurified our cluttered world of ordered sound.” (The Observer). All the music is performed on Ksenija’s Pigini accordion, which she considers to be the Rolls Royce of instruments.