Despite its origins in traditional music, the accordion has become, perhaps more than any other instrument, intimately associated with new work. One of the few players working in the UK once confessed to me that when he arrives at rehearsals with a distinguished British orchestra, the players have taken to theatrically booing. Nothing personal, they explained – just a Pavlovian response to the prospect of rehearsing contemporary music.
The relatively muted classical accordion tradition in these islands has nevertheless produced one of its most celebrated living exponents and teachers – the Scotsman James Crabb, for many years a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and teacher of many superb players from Scandinavia and beyond. And the situation has been somewhat ameliorated in recent years by the establishment of conservatoire departments in London and Glasgow. And yet, for an instrument that is so versatile, such a valuable and frequent addition to ensembles large and small, there remains a widespread and unfortunate lack of familiarity, and many British and British-trained composers will only encounter the accordion and its many idiosyncrasies when writing for soloists or ensembles overseas (Psappha's recent ‘Composing for Accordion’ lockdown project with Serbian Miloš Milivojević being a notable exception). Ten years ago, through a similar project at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama involving Danish soloist Andreas Borregaard, I and my students were introduced to the ‘Handbook on Accordion Notation’, a compact resource written by his teachers Geir Draugsvoll and Erik Højsgaard for the use of composers at the Royal Danish Academy which Andreas kindly translated. And, thus, a samizdat translation of a Danish conservatoire handbook has served as my trusty guide – indeed, my only guide in English – to this majestic instrument. Until now, that is.
Eva Zöllner's excellent new book (also available as an ebook) is, like Draugsvoll and Højsgaard's, explicitly aimed at composers coming to the instrument for the first time, and who may not have the luxury of extended time with their performer to learn through experimentation. Indeed, Zöllner notes in her introduction that ‘the accordion is still a rare instrument to find in music academies and other institutions, and there is an uncertainty among composers about how to write for the accordion and how to use the instrument's possibilities optimally’. The short text – it is only 30 pages long – covers all the issues that confront the composer when writing for the accordion. It is written in an admirably lucid style, clearly the product of many years of working closely with composers at all stages of experience. It is refreshingly devoid of the kind of weary scolding which can sometimes plague works aimed at composers (resources that read more like an Airing of Grievances than advice from a genuine enthusiast and evangelist for their instrument) and Zöllner is a kindly and patient guide. In addition to copious, elegantly presented illustrations, the author deploys a special symbol to denote issues that, she has learned, are particularly apt to confuse the unwary. These are frequently reminders to the reader to bear in mind the unique physicality of the instrument: the fact that it is large and heavy, that the player cannot see their hands, that bar upon bar of bellows shake is tiring (and potentially injurious). These are not only extremely valuable in themselves but also a model of how to address readers who really don't, in general, set out to maim and/or incommode their performers. Other welcome observations concern issues that, in the author's experience, composers frequently miscalculate when integrating the accordion into ensembles – issues of balance, or timbre-matching.
After a (very) brief history of the modern instrument, the text is organised thematically in a series of compact sections. They cover its physical characteristics, the manuals in turn (and their different qualities), surveying the most conventional uses of the instrument to the less conventional, all illustrated with well-chosen notated examples from works by acknowledged masters in composing for accordion (Gubaidulina, Sørensen, Berio, Nørgård, Hosokawa, to name but a few). Notably, all works are readily available through recordings, and the text refreshingly focuses on work that is unquestionably core repertoire, and thus of most value to students.
Particularly informative is a section devoted to the various kinds of glissandi that are possible, as well as air sounds and other bellows effects, and the use of the instrument with electronics and amplification (a particular challenge). Registration, and the confusion it often causes in notation, is clearly illustrated. The mysteries of Stradella bass notation are explained – somewhat. Zöllner helpfully notes that the positions of the major, minor, 7th and diminished chords ‘are not consistent because they are all placed within one octave (from E3 – D#4) and their order cannot be changed’. But for some composers, this quirk has been a feature, not a bug: one thinks of Philip Venables’ distinctive writing for the accordion built from the combination of diatonic chords, which often seems to drive whole sections of harmony – and a musical example illustrating the exact disposition of these chords would have been welcome.
Finally, some consideration is given to the growing repertoire of works for accordion as an ensemble/orchestral instrument, including as soloist. Here I would have perhaps welcomed some more examples, as it is clear from what she writes earlier that Zöllner has valuable insights into what works and what doesn't. But there is nonetheless a valuable list of repertoire, as well as a list of further resources.
This is an excellent volume, which, by virtue of its compact size and relatively inexpensive price (especially as a download), will deservedly become a favoured English-language resource.
