Album review: Ksenija Sidorova, Fairy Tales (Champs Hill)

One of my favourite albums of recent years has been Teodoro Anzellotti's accordion version of the Goldberg Variations, and elsewhere, Scandinavian and Baltic practitioners seem able to wrest more interesting effects from the instrument.

The Latvian Ksenija Sidorova, for instance, offers here a programme of original works and transcriptions ranging from Londonov's “Scherzo-Toccata” and Vasiliev's “Who's The Puppet?” to the light character of Mendelssohn's “Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream”, and Moszkowski's “Caprice Espagnol”, both of which profit from the instrument's superiority in blending long-held notes with delicate, fluttery work.

Download: Caprice Espagnol; Fairy Tales Concerto for Orchestra & Accordion; Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream