***** Antonio Vivaldi's (1678-1741) Four Seasons have something in common with Bach's Goldberg Variations. All musicians want to perform them on their instrument, whether it's a violin, a saxophone, a marimba or in this case an accordion. Can they just do that? Not always, but sometimes certainly...
Via our Facebook Fanpage we got in contact with Nihad Hrustanbegovic, an accordionist living in the Netherlands and of Bosnian origin. He recorded the Four Seasons and presented the cd at a well-attended and acclaimed concert in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Like the cd with the Goldberg Variations on accordion, we have to get our ears used to this performance. There is a fundamental difference in performing the mentioned Bach or Vivaldi. Both works are extremely difficult and are sometimes underestimated and performed too superficially, but Vivaldi's seasons sit more easily on the ear than Bach's variations. Moreover, you can assume that performing an orchestral work on accordion (or other keyboard instrument) in any case requires more effort than playing the well-known Bach variations on another keyboard instrument than, for example, a harpsichord, precisely because they were written for a keyboard and not for an orchestra like the Four Seasons.
Hrustanbegovic has opted for an interpretation as faithful as possible to the original score. A task to be reckoned with, for transcribing an orchestral work to play it solo on accordion without doing violence to the score is a task that no one has undertaken before. It must be said that the accordionist's extensive study of the score of and literature about these Four Seasons has borne fruit. The Baroque character does not suffer at all. Moreover, Hrustanbegovic makes use of the registers and limits the drone, which allows the many details that give the work its unique character to come fully into their own.
The accordionist succeeds throughout in conveying what Vivaldi put into his Four Seasons. That is more than just cheerful or dark melodies and chords. We won't explain it again here, but those who want to read more about the content of Vivaldi's work will find quite a bit of information, in Dutch (a good point!) in the CD booklet. Anyone who thinks an accordion is only good for accompanying folk music is mistaken, and we've known that for a long time. However, it must be emphasized once more that there is a large repertoire of original music, music of sometimes amazingly high quality. In Eastern Europe, the accordion has grown into a concert instrument, especially after the end of World War II. The many new compositions are evidence of this, but the excellently trained accordionists also want to perform something other than contemporary work and among other reasons for this, Nihad Hrustanbegovic took on Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Daring? Absolutely! Successful? Absolutely! Every musical requirement of the genius Vivaldi is met. Ah, sometimes you do hear something 'odd', but that's usually the change of register (which you can sometimes hear like with organs). The reason why the accordionist chose this well-known work is to prove that the accordion deserves more attention from us. He wants to prove that his instrument deserves a rightful place among recognized concert instruments. Well then, he provides that proof and we may wish that his proof be ratified for him, his colleagues and that coming generations may successfully continue on the path they have taken.