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A Flight Beyond the Time

Van Amsterdam Duo

The CD A Flight Beyond The Time has been created as a result of participation in the 2010 Coupe Mondiale, held in Varaždin (Croatia). Vincent van Amsterdam participated in the Senior Category as a soloist and reached the fourth place, the Van Amsterdam Duo won 3rd prize in the category Chamber Music. This CD contains a selection of pieces played at the Coupe Mondiale.

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In the Sonata No.1, Viatcheslav Semionov (1946) combines a lot of different elements from Russian folk music and classical music. He was also inspired by the rock-jazz music of SuperMax 1983. His compositions for accordion are considered standard repertoire for every accordionist.

Arangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was one of the most prominent violinists and composers at the end of the 17th century. Even though this Italian composer wrote a relatively small number of compositions, his works were very popular. The composition Opus 5 consists of 12 sonatas in total, each sonata contains 5 parts, with different tempi and characters. From Sonata no. 5 the following parts are recorded: 1. Adagio; 2. Vivace; 4. Vivace; 5. Giga allegro.

Dominico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was born in Italy as the son of the famous opera composer Alessandro Scarlatti. He stretched the limits of harmony and form, explored the possibilities of the keyboard and tried out new techniques. Because of this Scarlatti is considered to be a bridge between the old and the new, between Bach and Mozart. This sonata is written in d-minor and has a subtitle ‘Menuett’

Around 1725 a new tuning method was developed in Germany: the ‘Wohltemperiert’ tuning, which made it possible to play in every key. To celebrate this breakthrough, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote 2 books with 24 Prelude & Fugues and showed the possibilities of the new tuning. This Prelude and Fugue is in the key b-minor and is from the second book, b-minor was regarded as the key of passive suffering, a quiet acceptance of fate and a gentle complaint.

The Sonata nr. 4 BWV 1017 was written around 1720 and is one of six sonatas for concertante harpsichord and violin-solo. The harpsichord has a more important part in these sonatas and is an equal partner to the violin. The Allegro of the sonata nr. 4 has a fugal structure, and the different themes are presented virtuosicly by both instruments.

Around 1970, Anatolij Kusjakow (1945-2007) met the Russian accordionist W. Semionov in his hometown Rostov-on-Don in Russia and thus came into contact with accordion.  Kusjakow’s first Sonata bears many resemblances with the writing of Semionov, but soon Kusjakow discovered his own style. His Sonata no. 2 is lyrical, impressionistic and dramatic.

The Ukrainian composer Vladislav Zubitsky (1953) studied accordion and composition at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev. He wrote numerous works for accordion, solo and chamber music, including Carpathian Suite (1974). Zubitsky played this solowork for the first time at the Coupe Mondiale 1975 and he won 1st prize.

The compositions of Zubitsky are passionate and full of rhythms from Ukrainian folk music. The Carpathian Suite is written in a modern idiom with rapidly alternating melodies. The Finale is a festive end of the suite and the rhythmic use of the bellow is striking. The composition is arranged for accordion and violin by E. Lisnyak.

Petri Makkonen (1967) graduated in 1994 from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in accordion and composition. He currently teaches at the Conservatory of Kuopio and  is one of the most famous composers from Finland on the international accordion scene. 

A flight beyond the time, was written in 1997 and was the obligatory work for the Accordion Competition ‘Coupe Mondiale’ of that year. The composition is dedicated to the world famous Finnish accordionist Mika Väyrynen. The piece is about the constant flow of time, it is an ode to time, the invincible time, with its unstoppable pulse.

In 1952, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) won a scholarship to study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, who had a major influence on his later career. His studies led to an innovation in tango music. He has written modern concert tangos, Tango Nuevo, in which the harmonics, melody lines and soundscapes have been developed further than in the Traditional Tangos. In the last decade of his life he composed more than 300 tangos and much film music. From the four movements of Histoire du Tango the tango Nightclub 1960 is played on this CD.

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A Flight Beyond the Time

Van Amsterdam Duo