Text a yuri kazakov: “I played bach on my accordion”

The idea of improving the accordion first came to Yuri Kazakov when he was quite young. The old type of accordion was good mainly for playing folk melodies. The preset nature of the chords in the left keyboard made it impossible to perform polyphonic classical music.

The new accordion designed by Yuri Kazakov appeared in 1951. It retained all the basic features of the traditional instrument, which meant that any accordionist could play it but, at the same time, it had some very important innovations. The timbre of the right keyboard could now be changed (there were a total of 15 timbres), and it was possible, when necessary, to vary the chords in the left keyboard.

“I’ve been to 18 countries with my new accordion”, Yuri Kazakov says. “It weighs 18 kilograms, and it took 18 months to make it. But what is most important is that one can perform complicated classical works on it. For example, I play Bach’s “Toccata”, originally written for the organ. One of the instrument’s timbres makes it sound very much like an organ. But this “organ” is small enough to be held in one’s lap”.

“I also played the astounding Concerto for Accordion and Symphony Orchestra by Nicolai Chaikin, a Russian composer. The instrument is equally good for playing variations on themes of folk melodies”.

Almost all performing accordionists in our country play the Kazakov-designed accordion, and the art of playing it is taught at our music schools and conservatories. There is a factory in Moscow which mass-produces these accordions. They are called “Jupiters”.

Yuri Kazakov keeps on improving his instrument and is still active as a performer. He has been on the stage now for more than 40 years.

“Are there many accordion players in Russia?” I asked him. “I know one thing – when collections of music for accordion or self-instruction manuals are issued in this country they are sold in something like ten million copies. The accordion I now play”, he continued, “has covered great distances with me – from Indonesia to Iceland, and from Japan to Canada”. About two years ago I visited Italy. I was impatient to go to that country, for the accordion is extremely popular there. Incidentally, the famous Dellape accordion–producing firm is in Italy. I remember our delight over their instruments after the war.

In Stradella my concert was attended by Signor Amleto Dellape, the head of the firm. After listening to my accordion, he called round at my hotel late at night, asking me to show it to him in detail. I took the accordion apart and told my guest about some of its “secrets”.

“So many ideas in one instrument!” Signor Dellape exclaimed. And added: “The right keyboard in Italian accordions is Gigli, and the left keyboard in the Russian ones is Shaliapin. If only our Gigli could be combined with your Shaliapin. What an instrument that would be!”

Proper Names

Indonesia [,indou’nJzjq]

Iceland [’Qislqnd]

Japan [Gq’pxn]

Canada [’kxnqdq]

Italy [’ItqlI]

Stradella [strq’delq]

Signor Amleto Dellape [’sJnjL qm’letO dqlA’pe]

Benjamono Gigli [’benGqmInq ’GiljI]