Dragspil

There are any number of foods that divide the world in two: fruitcake, okra, minty peas, haggis, durian… you love them or, mostly, you don’t.

And in music, it’s the bagpipes, penny whistle, and those pan-pipe things played by Peruvian buskers. But the king of divisive instruments must surely be the accordion.

I’ve always had a fondness for accordion music. I mean, not all the time or anything, but I find accordions to be very expressive and versatile instruments. And I like fruitcake too so maybe I’m just wired differently.

Last month, the Auckland Philharmonia put on a concert featuring the work Dragspil by NZ composer Lyell Cresswell, featuring James Crabbe, for whom it was originally written 30 years ago. So we had to go (or rather I had to go and Lee is a good sport).

Overall, the concert was fine. But from where we were sitting in Auckland’s Town Hall, we couldn’t really hear well enough to know what the accordion was doing. The music is very complicated and very modern, and of course completely unfamiliar to us. So I kept wondering was that an accordion flourish or some oboe thing that was supposed to be in the background? Dunno.

Glad we went of course, but like other ‘special’ tastes, the classical accordion will require more study in order to be fully appreciated.