Guy Klucevsek and Alan Bern - Notefalls (2007)

The number of classical accordion virtuosos is small, but Guy Klucevsek and Alan Bern are among its brightest lights. Both have strong classical credentials. Klucevsek has worked with groups and individuals as diverse as John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, Anthony Braxton, Relâche, Pauline Oliveros, and Jubilant Sykes, and is also a composer. Bern holds a doctorate in composition from the Cincinnati Conservatory and directs the outstanding klezmer ensemble Brave Old World. Notefalls is their second joint CD, and it's obvious they are having a blast playing together. Their compositions have a loose-limbed, infectious charm and lack of pretense that's completely disarming. This is not trivial music; on close inspection it's often quite sophisticated, but it demonstrates the composers' willingness to drop all the filters usually attached to the "new music" label, and to write music that is unabashedly melodic and falls into easily recognizable patterns, and that's sometimes silly. Both composers' music is fearlessly eclectic, incorporating and transcending standard conventions such as marches, tangos, and blues. Both play keyboards as well as accordion, and the ensembles on the album range from two accordions to piano and accordion to piano, four-hands. The sound is full, warm, and intimate. The album should appeal to a variety of listeners, including fans of new music that's not afraid to be tonal, blues that aren't afraid of dissonance, klezmer that syncretistically blends with classical, and to plain old lovers of the accordion.