The Heart of the Andes
Five Preludes from Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, opus 87 (No. 8 in F# minor, No. 3 in G major, No. 1 in C major, No. 17 in Ab major, No. 15 in Db major), arranged for accordion by Guy Klucevsek§; Guy Klucevsek: Festina Tarde; Portables; Bits and Pieces of Hard Coal; Return of the Microids; The Gift; The Heart of the Andes Suite; Dave Douglas: Variety; Phillip Johnston: Birds.
Guy Klucevsek (accordion).
Winter & Winter WTR 910 074-2. DDD. TT 68:54.
Recorded Sint-Pietersabdij, Gent (Ghent), Belgium, 3 & 4 September 2001.
§World premiere recording of arrangements.

This album by Guy Klucevsek, playing mostly his own compositions for solo accordion, includes transcriptions of five Shostakovich Preludes (without the Fugues) from opus 87 of 1950-52. I was not particularly impressed by the overall sound nor the material included on the disc. At least the Shostakovich pieces added some rhythmic interest to an otherwise very conservative, uninspired and timbrally uninteresting hour-and-nine-minutes of music.

The CD is rather obscurely entitled Heart of the Andes, the last three tracks comprising a suite with this name composed by Klucevsek for an eponymous theatre production. Most of the music on this album apparently derives from similar productions, and the Shostakovich Preludes are the odd men out, possibly added to fill up the CD, or possibly as an indicator of the composition styles that might have inspired Klucevsek's own music. If the latter is the case, I suggest a much longer course of study and analysis of Shostakovich's clearly much greater and more interesting music. In any event, Klucevsek's music has no references that I can hear to anything South American, much less Andean; the interesting rhythmic complexity of that region's dances is nowhere in evidence.

Transcribing isolated Preludes does a disservice to Shostakovich's careful and thoughtful structuring of each Prelude and Fugue as a compositional unit. Some Preludes, such as the G major, don't end on the tonic, so there are tonal problems to consider also. Isolated Preludes presented as isolated tracks on a CD do, however, allow one to savour the flavours of the varied styles, harmonic-contrapuntal textures, rhythmic ingenuity and formal architecture, in small (or short) doses. Yet the solo accordion, at least to my ears, does very little to enhance this experience. Its lack of a sustain pedal detracts especially from long-held bass notes such as the ending of the just-mentioned G major Prelude.

Order from Evan Harlan

It is enlightening in this regard to compare these transcriptions to a different set by the group Excelsior, who released arrangements of ten opus 87 Preludes on their Declassified album in 1996 (Mark Set Go MSG 101 CD; reviewed in DSCH No. 11). Four of the same Preludes are found on both CDs. With Excelsior the varied instrumentation - electric violin, electric guitar, percussion, as well as an accordion - makes each cut much more delightful. The F# minor Prelude is too short on its own, as the Klucevsek version demonstrates, but Excelsior make it into a delightful, varied polka, with percussion, varied orchestration, and quite a few bars of added and repeated material not found in the original score.

The Db major Prelude is sparkling and cheeky as played by Excelsior, with the addition of a tuba and a long solo percussion section added in the middle. With Klucevsek, this Prelude contains all the original notes only, and the sparkle is absent. Shorn of piano and a pianist with a light touch, this piece needs percussive sounds like Excelsior's electric guitar.

In the Ab major Prelude, No. 17, Excelsior include an electric guitar improvisation, which pulls strings often. Klucevsek again includes most of the notes, and the rhythm and speed are correct, but the melody that moves from register to register does not stand out - much less the counterpoint! - anywhere near as well as it does with the varied orchestration of Excelsior.

Lastly, the C Major Prelude, No. 1, is not particularly successful on either album. Neither of the arrangers improvises anything here. The opening diatonicism, then the flats, then the sharps (but always with at least one C Major diatonic note in every harmony) prepare for the tour de force, completely diatonic fugue which unfortunately doesn't follow on either CD. With this Prelude and Fugue I can almost see Shostakovich's small, tight, sardonic smile; my vision fades when the Fugue is not played. A pity.

Although both transcriptions of Shostakovich's Preludes demonstrate the performers' own musical skills, as a by-product it becomes clear that Klucevsek is more interested in this demonstration, whereas Excelsior reveal that Shostakovich's music can be lots of fun if you pay attention to re-creating it while making it your own.

In short, this Klucevsek CD throws as little light on Shostakovich as it does on South American music. The sound quality is the same throughout, and sounds to me as though a touch of artificial reverb and stereo enhancement have been added, with the bass turned down.

JD Drury
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