An Accordion?

Mama's got a squeezebox -
Daddy never sleeps at night!"

"There is that slight pause followed by a snicker when you tell a friend that you are going to an accordion recital …” writes Jens Laurson over at Ionarts

I am not surprised…I couldn't vouch for my own reactions.

Partly I would be wondering at the quality of the musicianship - is the world's best banjo-plucker as good at what he does as the world's best cellist?

Evidently Geir Draugsvoll is no slouch, however. The concert reviewed included some pieces transcribed to squeeze-box from compositions meant for other instruments - including the Tocatta and Fugue for Organ commonly (and, almost certainly, mistakenly) attributed to Bach (a real showstopper, reports Jens) and a suite by Grieg (not Peer Gynt) which I'm guessing would have featured a piano - and works by serious composers intended for some variety of accordion.

There are quite a few of these compositions, it seems. Apart from Modernist stunts ala John Cage involving rubber bands, spoons, bottlecaps and such, I know serious composers have taken passes at a whole variety of low-rent instruments - harmonica, Jew's harp, kazoo, cow bells and that didgeridoo thing that makes Australian natives sound like Tibetan monks. Accordion?…Sure!

The review was fun, and the blog is pure quality.

Still, in the concert hall I wonder whether I could have suppressed the giggles whenever I saw - superimposed over poor Geir - the image of some robustly middle aged fellow called Grigio bellowing out

"When the moon hits your eye
Like a big pizza pie -
That’s Amoré!"

Andrew